The Pittsburgh Steelers went with some old-school football on Sunday to beat the Carolina Panthers. Now that we’ve had a chance to dig into the stats, here are four numbers that really stood out.
0 targets for Pat Freiermuth
It was clear going in, tight end Pat Freiermuth wasn’t going to get a full load on Sunday. Freiermuth had been limited all week with a foot injury. But Freiermuth did play 36 offensive snaps but didn’t get a single target in the game. It’s the first time in Freiermuth’s career he has played a game and not had a catch.
Carolina's 21 rushing yards
The Panthers had been on a tear running the football. The previous week, against the Seattle Seahawks, Carolina rushed the ball 46 times for 223 yards. But the Steelers came in prepared and completely shut the run game down.
3.6 rushing yards for Najee Harris
There is a difference between an effective run game and an efficient run game. The Steelers weren’t terribly efficient running the ball at only 3.5 yards per carry as a team. But they were effective. Most of the best runs came on early downs and put the offense in an excellent position to control those all-important possession downs.
4 sacks for the Steelers defense
Going into Sunday’s game, the Steelers only had 31 sacks through 13 games. This is a team that has gotten 50+ sacks in five seasons straight. On Sunday, Pittsburgh started getting things back on track with four sacks of Panthers quarterback Sam Darnold. If the Steelers want to keep the streak alive, they would need to find a way to average five sacks per game over the next three.
