The Steelers, unfortunately, lost their second straight game this season to Buffalo. The big concern for fans should have been the game-time temperature.
Interestingly enough, the loss has an additional twist. The Steelers dropped to a 9-7 record when facing AFC East opponents when the temperature is less than 32 degrees. The temperature in Sunday’s game was a cold 31 degrees at kickoff.
Oddly enough, the Steelers have only three wins since 1989 vs. AFC east opponents with the temperature dropping to less than 32 degrees. Two wins came in 1989, and those were back to back wins. December 10, 1989, they beat the Jets 13-0. A week later, December 17, 1989, they stopped the Patriots 27-20. In both games, the temperature was under the freezing mark. Pittsburgh’s next win against an AFC East opponent in such conditions would not come until December 11, 2016, against Buffalo when they won 27-20. They have not beaten an AFC opponent since when the thermometer has read less than 32 degrees.
Sacking the opposition
The Steelers set a league record when they sacked Josh Allen Sunday night. They moved ahead of Tampa Bay with at least one sack in 70 consecutive games. Officially Pittsburgh is the new record holder, unofficially they are not. Keep in mind the NFL did not record sacks as a statistic until the 1980s.
So this presents a rather debatable situation regarding the sack per game streak record. While the Steelers now officially hold the record, the Detroit Lions managed the same feat for 76 straight games between 1960-1965. Since sack statistics were not official stats in the ‘60s, even though the Lions achieved the feat, the NFL does not recognize them as the record holders. In fairness to the Lions’ achievement, if Pittsburgh wishes to end any debate about who truly owns the sack record, they actually need seven more games with a sack. While it’s meaningless to the record itself, for the fans that still remember the Lions of old, it’s a matter of pride!
Speaking of sacks, the Steelers sacked Josh Allen once in Sunday’s game. Oddly enough, if Pittsburgh wanted to win, they needed to do better than one sack. The Steelers’ lifetime record against the Bills is 1-7 when sacking the Bills quarterback one time or less. The Steelers only win when recording less than two sacks against the Bills goes back to October 29, 1972, in a 58-21 victory. Oddly enough, when the Steelers have sacked the Bills quarterback at least two times, the Steelers’ record is 12-3