With the Steelers first game of 2021 in the book, it’s time to once again look ad odd stats and occurrences from their victory over the Bills
Sunday’s meeting is only the second time in team history the Pittsburgh Steelers opened the season playing against the Buffalo Bills.
Pittsburgh improved its record to 2-0 when facing the Bills on opening day. An even odder stat is that Steelers rushed for 75 yards between two players, Najee Harris and Chase Claypool. It’s the only time in matchups between Buffalo and Pittsburgh that the Steelers split rushing duties between just one running back and one wide receiver, not counting one quarterback scramble and no other players.
In all other games, a wide receiver never participated in the rushing game.
One could argue that’s not entirely true, as in 1982, Greg Hawthorn, and in 1994, Dwight Stone both had rushes against the Bills. However, while Hawthorne played as a tight end and wide receiver, he was also used as a running back frequently, so he did not play solely as tight end and wideout and was primarily a running back. The same goes for Dwight Stone. Though used as a wide receiver, he more often played at running back first and foremost.
Steelers vs. Bills: Odder yet
Even more unusual is Pittsburgh, before this game was 1-8 against the Bills when rushing for less than 100 yards before last Sunday. The Steelers record against the Bills when rushing for more than 100 yards?
An astonishing 13-2.