5 things we learned: Steelers among best in NFL over past calendar year — in wins, not points
Five things we learned from Steelers 23, Packers 19:
1. Only the scoreboard counts
Monday marks the one-year anniversary from when the Pittsburgh Steelers turned around a season that by all appearances was spiraling toward one of their worst in recent decades. The Steelers woke up the morning of Nov. 13, 2022, in last place and tied for the second-worst record in all of the NFL at 2-6. Coming off their idle week, the Steelers had lost six of seven — including a blowout loss at the Philadelphia Eagles.
But the Steelers beat the New Orleans Saints, 20-10, that afternoon one year ago Monday. And it kicked off a 365-day span in which they’ve gone from one of the NFL’s worst to among the league’s best.
By win-loss record, that is.
Only the Kansas City Chiefs (15) have more victories among AFC teams over the past calendar year than the Steelers. With wins in 13 of 18 games since the Nov. 13 of last year, only the Chiefs (.833) and Cincinnati Bengals (12-4, .750) are better than the Steelers’ winning percentage (.722).
The San Francisco 49ers (15-3), Philadelphia Eagles (14-4) and Detroit Lions (14-4) are the lone NFC teams with better records than the Steelers since Week 10 of last season.
The crazy part? The Steelers over those 18 games have a scoring differential of a mere plus-13. They have an average of just 0.7 points per game more than their opponents — but have won 13 of 18.
For perspective, the 49ers over their past 18 games are a plus-253 in scoring differential.
2. Lucky number
Taylor Swift devotees aside, 13 is generally considered an unlucky number. Right now, the number 13 can define the career of Kenny Pickett. But, like the player himself, evaluating the numbers can leave more questions than answers.
Just past the halfway point of his second NFL season Pickett has played in 22 NFL games with 21 starts over the past 13 months.
Pickett has 13 wins, 13 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions in that time.
3. Dink and dunk?
Pickett averaged 5.4 yards per attempt during Sunday’s win, dropping him to 26th in the NFL in that category at 6.4.
A deeper dive into Pickett’s downfield game (or lack thereof) on Sunday by NFL Next Gen Stats shows that only two starting quarterbacks in Week 10 had a lower average “air yards” per attempt (4.7) and only three had a lower average air yards per completion (2.8). Put simply, Pickett’s average pass against the Packers was to a receiver less than 5 yards down the field, and his average completion was to a man less than 3 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
Pickett attempted a mere four passes more than 11 yards down the field and completed only two. For perspective (and as a counter-argument to the idea Pickett is young and needs protected), C.J. Stroud — a rookie — had an average completed air yards of 11.9 in leading the Houston Texans to a win at the Bengals.
4. Indispensable
Over the span of about a month, Joey Porter Jr. went from sparsely-used subpackage DB to a never-leave-the-field shutdown cornerback.
Porter played just seven defensive snaps in his NFL debut in Week 1 and through two games had been a part of just 14% of the Steelers plays. As recently as the first two games of October, Porter remained in a relative bit role.
But for the first two games of November, Porter has taken part in 138 of a possible 142 defensive snaps — capped by a perfect 100% played Sunday.
According to Pro Football Focus, in 46 coverage snaps against the Packers, Porter allowed just two catches for only 9 yards and was targeted just four times. After being exclusively a left cornerback his first seven games and shadowing Tennessee Titans star DeAndre Hopkins in Week 9, Porter played a strong majority of his snaps on the left side Sunday but also was lined up on the right for 12 plays. He also was in coverage against four different Packers wide receivers.
A bonus, in light of Porter’s reputation as a poor tackler: he did not miss a tackle against Green Bay and had four overall (three solo, one for loss). PFF graded him as the third-best tackler among the 21 Steelers defensive players who got into the game.
5. Snap judgments
Looking at snap counts from Sunday’s game, among what jumps out is that T.J. Watt matched a career high for taking part in 97% of the Steelers’ defensive plays. This follows an outing in which he played 93% of the snaps against Tennessee. Before Sunday, Watt had exceeded a play percentage of 90% just once over the course of the past three seasons combined.
Fellow outside linebacker Alex Highsmith likewise played a season high percent of snaps (93%).
Also of note: in a possible sign of his continued ascension in the eyes of his coaches, rookie Keeanu Benton led all Steelers defensive linemen in snaps played against Green Bay (63).
On offense, the Steelers had a “Little League”-like approach: running backs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren had an exact split (33 snaps each), and tight ends Connor Heyward (34) and Darnell Washington (33) almost did.
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Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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