The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves having a bye week in the middle of the NFL season. With eight games complete at nine to go, is it a good place for the Steelers to do some self evaluation and prepare themselves for the final stretch of the season.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at where the Steelers stand in some key offensive and defensive statistics. The following are the points and yardages per game, the yardage for both running and passing, the total number of times the Steelers have been sacked, and how many times they have turned the ball over. Additionally, the Steelers current NFL rank in all of these categories is included.

Offense

Yards: 328.1 (16th)
Points: 23.4 (15th)
Rushing Yards: 138.1 (8th)
Passing Yards: 190.0 (25th)
Sacks Surrendered: 21 (t-20th)
Turnovers: 5 (4th)

Looking at the offense, the Steelers are currently sitting in the top half of the NFL in both total yards and points. The last time the Steelers finished the season in the top half in both of those categories was in 2018 when they finished sixth in points and fourth in yards. The only time the Steelers finished in the top half in either category since then was when they finished 12th in points in 2020.

Although it looks as if the Steelers are not successful passing the ball, it may be more of a byproduct of not having to rely on the pass in a number of their games. Oftentimes the teams who have a high amount of passing yards are either teams who find themselves trailing by a lot, or teams that are struggling to run the ball. On the flip-side, teams with higher winning percentages, especially those who lead the majority of the second half of their games, happen to have more rushing yards.

The Steelers have been doing a good job of taking care of the football on offense, despite not having the best numbers of protecting the quarterback.

Before getting too far into things, let’s take a look at where the Steelers rank defensively through the first eight weeks of the NFL season.

Defense

Yards: 310.3 (9th)
Points: 14.9 (2nd)
Rushing Yards: 90.5 (4th)
Passing Yards: 219.8 (22nd)
Sacks: 19 (18th)
Takeaways: 15 (t-4th)

I find it interesting that going into the bye week a number of commentators on the Steelers claim to have major concerns over the Steelers run defense (See Doug Whaley on the Steel City Insider Podcast). Hearing these takes goes to show how much the “short term memory“ comes to play with so many. Yes, the Steelers had a rough day stopping the run in their last game as they surrendered 157 yards. But the previous two games they surrendered less than 60 yards each. So while it is concerning, the Steelers are still one of the best in the NFL in stopping the run. As long as the most recent game is an outlier, there should not be overwhelming concern in this regard.

A potential area of concern is the number of passing yards the Steelers have surrendered. While this number could definitely use some improvement, it’s potentially a byproduct of the Steelers leading in the fourth quarter in all but one of their games. Because of this, teams are more likely to pass. Unfortunately, the Steelers too often employ a strategy of allowing their opponents to pass the ball as long as they keep it in front of them and tackle the catch. Although I don’t agree with this philosophy, it does explain why they give up more passing yards.

The Steelers continue to do a good job of taking away the football, but they have not been as successful at getting to the quarterback in a finishing manner this season. Some may be surprised that the Steelers are surrendering more sacks than what they are getting.

To put these numbers in more context, I’m going to compare where the Steelers are now to where they were through Week 8 of the 2023 season. In both the rank and the numbers, I put the difference from this year to last year in parentheses. A plus is given in all circumstances where the Steelers have improved in 2024, regardless of if it’s a statistic where the desire is to be high or low. For example, the Steelers had more turnovers in 2023 than they do now in 2024. Even though the number in 2023 was larger, the difference is written as a plus, meaning the Steelers have been more successful in 2024

2023 Offense

Yards: 271.7 (+56.4) 30th (+14)
Points: 16.1 (+7.3) 29th (+14)
Rushing Yards: 79.7 (+58.4) 28th (+20)
Passing Yards: 192.0 (-2.0) 25th (+0)
Sacks Surrendered: 19 (-2) 22nd (+2)
Turnovers: 8 (+3) t-9th (+5)

The Steelers are doing much better in 2024 in terms of yards and points mainly because of how much better they are rushing the football. When it comes to passing, the Steelers are very close to what it was last year. But the threat of the pass has been helping to open up the run.

It is also interesting to see that the Steelers surrendered less sacks at this point last year, and in one less game because they already had their bye, but yet they ranked worse.

Now let’s take a look at the defense.

2023 Defense

Yards: 382.6 (+72.3) 30th (+21)
Points: 21.0 (+6.1) 18th (+16)
Rushing Yards: 137.1 (+46.6) 27th (+23)
Passing Yards: 245.4 (+25.6) 27th (+5)
Sacks: 22 (-3) 7th (-11)
Takeaways: 15 (+0) 2nd (-2)

Some might forget how poorly the Steelers defense was ranked the first half of last season. These were numbers I continually tried to bring up when people tried to say that Cam Heyward didn’t have any effect on the defense in the second half of the season. As a team, it showed a whole different story.

The Steelers are doing significantly better in the top three categories, but not in the bottom three. Takeaways are right around the same as they are the exact same number but not as good of a rank. Passing yards and sacks, two things that can go hand-in-hand, are not as good this year through the first half of the season. With the Steelers facing more potent offenses in the second half of the year, this will definitely be something to watch over the next nine games.

So there is a breakdown of the numbers of where the Steelers stand statistically in some of the major categories through the first eight weeks. What specifically stands out to you? Be sure leave your thoughts in the comments below.