Stats That Stood Out: Steelers vs. Falcons (Preseason Week 2)

Another ugly outing, but another win. After going down 13-3 at halftime, the Steelers backups tightened defensively, and the offense scored two touchdowns to get the team their second win of the preseason in as many games. Speaking of second win…

2010

The last time the Steelers started off the preseason with a 2-0 record was in 2010. Coincidentally, this was the last time the Steelers went to the Super Bowl. Hmm…

581

581 days. That’s how long Steelers fans have been waiting to see Martavis Bryant back on the field since his year-long suspension. In his first game back, Bryant nabbed 2 passes for 20 yards including a beautiful back shoulder catch from Josh Dobbs. He admitted that he was nervous heading into the game, and it was obvious. Now that he’s gotten game experience back under his belt, look for him to continue where he left off in 2015.

244

Total passing yards the Steelers defense allowed in the 1st half vs. Matt Ryan, Matt Schaub, and Matt Simms on 16 of 26 (61.5%) pass attempts. A little troubling to see the first stringers sans Bud Dupree, Ryan Shazier, and Mike Mitchell allow the Falcons to pass on them with ease, but it’s the preseason. I’ll start worrying if this happens on a regular basis when the games actually count.

98

James Conner’s 98-yard performance in his first NFL action was the most rushing yards by a Steelers back since Willie Parker‘s 106-yard outing vs. the Eagles in the 2004 preseason.

86.5

Safety Jordan Dangerfield‘s 86.5 grade from Pro Football Focus was the highest of any player in this game. He finished with 3 solo tackles and 2 interceptions, both coming at pivotal times.

7

Punter Jordan Berry had 7 of his 8 punts end up inside the 20-yard line thanks in large part to the punt coverage unit which forced 5 fair catches.

3.1

The Steelers averaged a measly 3.1 yards per pass play on 28 passes. To keep that in perspective, the Steelers mustered up a higher average on the ground at 3.8. Just like everyone else, I was hoping we would’ve seen Dobbs build off of last week’s victory, but it was a rough day for the entire passing offense. Definitely a lot of teaching points for the players this week.

0

In the second half, the Steelers’ defense allowed zero third down conversions on 8 Falcons attempts. They did a great job of stopping the run which put Matt Simms and company in a lot of 3rd & long situations.

Were there any stats or numbers that stood out to you from this game? Let us know!