Numerous Steelers reach milestones in game against the Ravens

Every time the Steelers play the Ravens, the game tends to be an NFL classic in one way or another. Sunday’s afternoon game proved no different.

They played a close game, and John Harbaugh’s decision to go for the two-point conversion proved costly to the Ravens as Lamar Jackson threw an incomplete pass losing by one point when a field goal would have at least sent the game to overtime.

In addition, the game led to several milestones and other odd stats as well. What else would you expect from these two division rivals?

Mike Tomlin Milestone

This game was the 30th meeting between Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh in his victory. Only three coaches have faced each other more times than these divisional foes. Papa Bear George Halas squared off against Curly Lambeau 49 times, and Curly Lambeau opposed Steve Owen 31 times.

Big Ben milestone

What would be a Steelers ravens matchup without another milestone from Big Ben? Ben won his 7th of last eight starts against the Ravens.  With that, he also improved to 11-3 against the Ravens at home 29 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions over those games.

The real milestone is that Roethlisberger is that with his win over the Ravens, he moved into a tie for third place overall with 51 game-winning drives with Tom Brady. In conjunction, Ben was credited with his 39th career comeback as well. He only needs two more to tie Tom Brady with 41 for second place overall.

Diontae Johnson Milestone

With his touchdowns against the Ravens, Johnson tied Buddy Dial with having five touchdown receptions in their first three seasons. Also, in his last four games, Johnson 80 plus receiving yards. The last Steelers receiver to do that was Antonio Brown in 2017.

Najee Harris Milestone

As the rookie sensation continued to improve, he made his way into the record books again. Najee tied Diontae Johnson and Troy Edwards with the most games of five-plus receptions for a rookie since the 1960 season.

Over the 2021 season, the Steelers are 6-0-1 when Najee has rushed for at least 20 times. The Last running back to have a similar streak over the same amount of games was Le’Veon Bell, who did it twice in 2016 and 2017.

Hajees rushing performance also tied him with Bam Morris for the 2nd most games with  60 plus rushing yards among a rookie since 1960.

Rusty Curtain

While the Steelers are running up the sack total, the Steelers headed into the Ravens game, allowing 133.1 rushing yards a game. The most of any team in the NFL and the most since 1965. If they continue on that pace, they will allow 2225.47 yards which would be the most rushing yards they have ever allowed in a single and the most since 1954.

Odd stat of the week

The 20-19 win had its peculiarness as well. It’s the Steelers’ first win with the same score since they beat the Ravens on the Monday night game 10/31/2005. However, in team history, the Steelers have only had two 20-19 wins, and both times it was over Baltimore.

More Bizarre

If that was not odd enough, it gets a bit weirder. The Steelers have had only 20 1 point wins in team history, and the last two have been against the Ravens. The only 1 point win against another team outside of the Ravens came in 2010 against the Dolphins. But it gets a bit stranger still. The Steelers have not lost a 1 point game since 1999, and they have never lost a one-point game to the ravens either.

That said, overall, they have 36 one-point games in which they have won or lost. However, out of those 36 games, 14 have been against divisional foes, the most being Clevland.

The Steelers now move to a Thursday night game against the Vikings, and this game is sure to produce any number of milestones or stats as Monday or Thursday night games generally do.