The Pittsburgh Steelers were at home for the first time this season, hosting the 2-0 Chargers. Looking to go 3-0 for the first time since 2020, the Steelers scored multiple touchdowns for the first time this season. With the defense still leading the way, the Steelers offense got into the story line as well to win a game by more than one score for the first time this season.

So without further ado, here are some of the numbers involved in the Steelers Week 3 win over the Chargers.

-1

There were two firsts in this game for the Steelers for 2024. Not only was it the Steelers first turnover the year, they did not have any takeaways in the game. Despite the Steelers turning the ball over, the defense stepped up and forced a three and out after the Justin Fields interception. So there were no points scored off of turnovers, there was just the possibility of the Steelers adding more points that was taken away. This is the first game the Steelers won where they had a negative turnover differential since Week 7 of 2020. Including the playoffs, the Steelers were 0–20–1 in their last 21 games where they were on the wrong side of the turnover battle before Sunday.

-5

It would be hard to top the Steelers second-half defensive performance from Week 1 in Atlanta, but they managed to do so against the Chargers. Not only did the Steelers keep them off the scoreboard, the Chargers had -5 total yards in the second half. The Chargers had 13 rushing yards on six rushing attempts and had 24 yards on two completions, but lost 42 yards on five Steelers sacks. In all, the Chargers only had one first down in the second half.

61

Coming into the game, the Los Angeles Chargers had the second most rushing yards in the NFL as they were averaging 197.5 yards. But against the Steelers they managed only 61 yards on 20 carries for a 3.1 yard average. J.K. Dobbins, who was leading the NFL in rushing, only had 44 yards on 15 carries for a 2.9 yard average.

5

Although the Steelers didn’t get to quarterback Justin Herbert in the first half, the Steelers had five sacks in the second half with two against Justin Herbert and three against Taylor Heinicke. Nick Herbig led the way with 2.0 sacks and the Steelers also added sacks from Elandon Roberts, Cam Heyward, and T.J. Watt.

69

Although having 114 rushing yards on 31 carries on the day for the Steelers seems to be a quality outing, they struggled to run the ball for most of the day. When the Steelers received the ball with 4:59 remaining in the game and a 10-point lead, they managed to rush for 69 yards on 7 carries to help run out the clock. Najee Harris had 36 rushing yards on 3 carries while Cordarrelle Patterson had 33 rushing yards on 4 carries.

3

After struggling with shooting themselves in the foot last week due to penalties, the Steelers cleaned things up well this week. With no penalties in the first half, the Steelers only had 3 penalties for 15 yards for the day.

20:11

It was unusually warm weather in late September for Pittsburgh on Sunday. With temperatures in the mid 80s and the Steelers wearing their home black uniforms, it was important that the defense not be forced onto the field too much late in the game. But in the second half, the Steelers had 20:11 in time of possession compared to only 9:49 for the Chargers. Although the Steelers had one drive which ended in one play due to an interception, they had three other drives that lasted 4:59, 5:55, and 6:26. The other Steelers drive in the second half was only 2:43 simply because the Steelers scored a 55-yard touchdown.

50%

Perhaps Jeff Hartman will finally be happy with his “Winners and Losers” as the Steelers hit the exceptional mark of a 50% conversion rate on third down. Going 7 for 14 in the game, the Steelers were 3 of 7 for 43% in the first half and 4 of 7 for 57% the second half. For the game, the Chargers only converted 3 of 11 third downs for a 27% conversion rate.

52.0, 50.3

The Steelers had another quality performance in the punting department. Corliss Waitman had three punts for 156 yards and a 52.0 gross punting average. With only 1 return for 5 yards, the Steelers had a net of 50.3 yards on the day. More importantly, the Steelers did not have a punt in the second half.

1

This number has been the same each week of the regular season as the Steelers put one more tally in the win column. Although this only counts as one win just as it has each of the previous two weeks, something about this one felt a little bit more as the offense got going and the defense dominated with both going against a quality opponent.

So there are some numbers to help put the Steelers Week 3 win in perspective. The offense picked it up more this week while the defense gave another dominating performance keeping their opponent to 10 points or less.

So what numbers from Sunday’s game stand out to you? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.