The Steelers knocked off the Eagles on Sunday in another decisive victory, thus leaving the Steelers 4-0 for the first time since 1979.
That alone should excite all Steeler fans. The last two times, they went 4-0, the Steelers have won the Superbowl. The Steelers 2020 record, though, is not the only unusual occurrence stemming from the Steelers’ victory over the Eagles.
Wide Receivers Join the Rushing Game
The week five victory against the Eagles marks only the 2nd time in Steelers team history that their Steelers wide receivers have either equaled or exceeded the Steelers running backs. Against the Eagles in last Sunday’s win, Chase Claypool and Ray-Ray McCloud equaled all three Steelers running backs with 69 yards.
The wide receivers out gaining runningbacks has happened only one time. On October 16, 2016, in a Home loss to the Dolphins. In that game, Darius Heyward Bey and Antonio Brown had two combined attempts for 66 rushing yards, with Le’Veon Bell and Deangelo Williams having a combined 13 rushing attempts for 63 total yards.
Chase Claypool Has a huge game
Chase Claypool exploded in the game against the Eagles, scoring four touchdowns. He had one rushing touchdown and three receptions for a touchdown. Within this process, Claypool became the first rookie since 1972 to score a rushing and receiving touchdown since Franco Harris. When he scored his third touchdown, he became the first rookie to score three touchdowns since Eric Green accomplished that task.
Then Claypool tied the club record with four touchdowns in one game. He became the first Steelers player since Roy Jefferson on November 3, 1968, scored four touchdowns in an away game in Atlanta. The other Steelers player to hold this mark is Ray Mathews, who scored four touchdowns on October 17, 1954, against the Cleveland Browns. This feat helped get Claypool named AFC offensive player of the week Here is a clip of his record setting 4th touchdown.
An A for Efficiency
The game against the Eagles marked the Pittsburgh’s all-time best third-down efficiency rating while Pittsburgh’s Defense allowed the highest third-down efficiency also.
The Steelers finished the game with the Eagles with a 73.3% third-down efficiency rating, their highest since an October 28, 2007 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. However, the Eagles 71.4% is the highest third-down efficiency the Steelers have allowed since a loss to Denver on October 21, 2007. It is the highest third down of an opponent in a victory since their September 7, 1997, 14-13 win over Washington.
Oops
The Steelers game with the Eagles had it’s fair share of penalties. It marks the Steelers first win over the Eagles since 1968 while exceeding 84 penalty yards and the Steelers first overall win with combined penalty yardage exceeding 170 yards while trailing at one point in the game since their Monday night meeting with the Bengals on December 14, 2017.
Speaking of mistakes, Pittsburgh’s defense allowed Miles Sanders to break a 74-yard rush, the longest by an Eagles rusher since 2000 when Eagles Brian Mitchell broke an 85 yard rush against the Falcons.
More Big Ben Milestones
Entering the first three games of 2020, Ben Roethlisberger’s 7-1 touchdown-interception ratio the best three-game streak since 2012.
Big Ben entered the Eagles game with a 105.2 passer rating. His highest previous passer rating was 104.1 in 2007. When last Sunday’s game ended, Big Ben through 2020 now has a 110.4 rating. So possibly he could finish 2020 with the highest passing rating of his career. The highest passing rating by a Pittsburgh quarterback would be 136.9 set in 1995 by Kordell Stewart.
However, in fairness, Kordell Stewart only played quarterback sparingly that season and mostly threw passes on gadget plays designed by Coach Cowher. Thus, if Ben maintains this passer rating for the duration of 2020 season, he will have the highest passing rating of any Steelers quarterback to start five-plus games in any one season.
Speaking of 4-0
Pittsburgh finished 4-0 after knocking off the Eagles. So what are their chances of winning the title? Since 1920, 199 teams have started 4-0. Of those, 142 made the playoffs, and only 40 have won the championship. So they have a 20.10% chance of winning this years Superbowl. Their best-ever start to a season is 7-0 in 1978.