Cheat Sheet: Steelers vs. Chargers

Series History

While the Chargers lead the playoff matchups 2-1, Pittsburgh owns this series overall with a commanding 24-11 lead. This series began in 1971 and the Steelers won the first six matchups. The Chargers then won the next three. But the Chargers have losing streaks of six, five and five against Pittsburgh over the 50 years these teams have been squaring off. After a long stretch in which the Chargers won just five of 21 games between 1983 and 2009, these two teams have gone back and forth over the past six meetings with the Chargers winning the most recent matchup in 2019. Mike Tomlin is 5-3 against the Chargers.

GENERAL

• The Chargers' 2-0 start is their first since 2012. 2The last time the Steelers began 2-0 was 2020, and 1999 was the last time Pittsburgh began a season with two road victories. Eight of the last nine NFL teams that to start 2-0 with both wins on the road made the playoffs. Since 1990 of the teams that began the season 2-0, 63.9% went to the playoffs and 41.2% won their division. Teams that start 3-0 make the playoffs at a 75.2% clip and win their division 51.5% of the time.
• These are the four teams that have only scored one offensive touchdown and their respective records: Carolina (0-2), Denver (0-2), Chicago (1-1), and Pittsburgh (2-0).
• Heading into the 2024 season, Tomlin had a .615 winning percentage in one-score games, best in the NFL. Last year, the Steelers' .818 winning percentage (9-2) in one-score games (eight points or less) was the best in the league. The Steelers have started their 2024 season with two victories in one-score games.
• Since 2022, the Steelers are 19-4 in games in which they did not throw an interception and are 2-11 with at least one interception thrown. Pittsburgh is 8-1 in games they forced multiple turnovers since 2023 and 0-3 when forcing zero turnovers. Over the past three seasons and now including the two games in 2024, the Steelers are 30-7 when they won or tied the turnover battle. Pittsburgh is 0-15-1 when losing that turnover battle over that stretch. Going back to the start of the 2020 season, the Steelers are 22-3 when they don't turn the ball over.
• Pittsburgh's plus-5 turnover differential is the best in the league. The Chargers sit at plus-2. The Steelers are one of three teams that have yet to turn the ball over. In 2023, Pittsburgh's plus-11 turnover differential was better than every team except the Ravens and Giants.
• Los Angeles produced 21 first downs last week compared to the seven they allowed the Panthers. They were also 9 of 16 on third downs compared to 1 of 12 by Carolina. The Chargers averaged 1.9 more yards per play than they allowed while winning the time of possession battle 36:18 to 23:42 in Carolina. The Broncos averaged 1.2 more yards per play than Pittsburgh last week. Carolina snapped the ball just once in the red zone.
• Pittsburgh is possessing the ball for 33:57 compared to 32:17 by the Chargers. That ranks sixth and 12th respectively. Pittsburgh has run 18 more plays than its opponents and the Chargers have run 14 more.
• The Steelers are generating 62.5 more yards on the ground than they are allowing. Los Angeles is generating 117 more yards on the ground than it is allowing.
• Pittsburgh has allowed just 16 points through two games. The Chargers (13 points allowed) are the only team that has allowed fewer. In terms of EPA per play, Los Angeles is best in the NFL, the Saints are second and the Steelers are third on defense.
• Chargers games this year are producing the fewest combined snaps and the second-fewest total points scored. Very similarly, Steelers games are producing the 29^th number of snaps and the fewest points scored.
• The Chargers and Steelers both won last week while attempting just 20 passes apiece. These were two of five NFL teams that won in Week 2 despite attempting 20 or fewer passes. The Chargers and Steelers combined for 80 rushing attempts last week.
• The Chargers and Steelers are converting a set of downs into a touchdown or new set of downs just 64% of the time. Only five offenses are worse. However, Los Angeles allows a 47% conversion rate, which is best in the league, and the Steelers allow a 59% rate, which is third-best.

WHEN PITTSBURGH HAS THE BALL

• The Steelers employ the league's highest rate of both 13 and 14 Personnel with three and four tight ends on the field. They are 10^th in the usage of 12 Personnel with two tight ends.
• Only the Saints are running the ball at a higher percentage than Pittsburgh, and only four offenses are running it a higher rate on first downs.
• Of the yards Pittsburgh has gained this year, 53.4% has come via the ground game, the third highest-percentage in the league.
• The Steelers have three plays of 20-plus yards, tied for 28^th in the league.
• The Chargers held Carolina to just 69 passing yards in Week 2, and the Panthers didn't have a pass catcher eclipse 23 receiving yards. Bryce Young didn't complete a pass attempted over 10 yards downfield. Los Angeles allows 5.0 yards per pass attempt. Only the Seahawks and Titans are better.
• The average depth of target against the Chargers defense is just four yards, the lowest in the NFL. They have only had two passes attempted against them that traveled 20-plus yards.
• The Steelers didn't have a reception longer than 16 yards in Denver.
• Justin Fields' completion percentage is up 10 points this year over his career average. He is aiming for his fifth-straight start without throwing an interception. His 6.4-yard average depth of target is not only the lowest of Fields' career, but it is currently 28^th among NFL quarterbacks.
• George Pickens is averaging 2.69 yards per route run compared to .48 for Calvin Austin and .36 for Van Jefferson. Pickens 25.6% target share easily leads the team, followed by Pat Freiermuth at 18.6% and Jefferson at 11.6%. Pickens is also being targeted 12.9 yards downfield on average compared to 8.88 for Austin and 7.2 for Jefferson.
• Pickens ranks 12^th in yards per route run and seventh in first downs per route run. Pickens ran 80% of his routes in Week 1 against AJ Terrell and 71% of his routes in Week 2 against Patrick Surtain. Last week Pickens had two catches for 57 yards and a touchdown erased because of penalties. He also drew a defensive pass interference penalty for 37 yards. In Week 1, Pickens had a 41-yard catch overturned and another 36-yard catch called back because of an offensive pass interference. If we threw out the defensive pass interference call but counted everything else, Pickens would be averaging 124 receiving yards per game and 5.51 yards per route run. Pickens has only run 43 routes, 70^th among all wide receivers. Almost one-third of Pickens' routes have come from the slot, about double last year's rate.
• The Steelers have four tight ends who have played 19 or more snaps. Freiermuth leads the way with 89, followed by MyCole Pruitt with 68, Darnell Washington with 66 and Conner Heyward with 19 out of a possible 135 offensive snaps.
• Freiermuth didn't take one snap out of 12 Personnel last week.
• Freiermuth's 73.2% route rate ranks 18^th among NFL tight ends. He is 23^rd in routes run at his position. Freiermuth has four targets in each game this year.
• Chargers outside linebacker Khalil Mack 103 career sacks ranks third among all active players. Mack had 17 sacks last year. Joey Bosa is aiming for this third-straight game with a sack.
• Fields faced the highest blitz rate (64.3%) of his career last week. When blitzed, Fields completed 9 of 13 passes for 83 yards and a touchdown. In 2023, Fields was the most blitzed quarterback in the league and his completion percentage against blitz (58.1%) ranked 25^th. He has completed 68.4% (12^th) against the blitz in a Steelers uniform and has been blitzed on 44.6% of his drop backs in 2024, which is the league's second-highest rate.
• The average time to throw against Los Angeles is 2.32 seconds, the lowest in the league. Fields' average time to throw of 3.17 seconds is 30^th among 33 quarterbacks this season. In Denver, Fields got rid of the ball in 2.71 seconds on average, his quickest time to throw in a game in which he attempted at least 14 passes since Week 9 of 2022.
• Some 12% of Pittsburgh's drop backs have resulted in a quarterback scramble. Only Washington is higher.
• Fields has 22 rushing attempts this season. Only Washington's Jayden Daniels has more among quarterbacks.
• Last week on third downs, Warren out-snapped Harris 10 to 3. But on early downs, Harris was on the field for 23 plays compared to 15 for Warren. Harris already has 41 touches this season.
• Only 2.6% of the Steelers rushing attempts have gained 15-plus yards.
• In terms of EPA, on first and second downs, only the Steelers defense has been better than Los Angeles' and only the Saints have been better against the run on early downs.
• The Chargers' opponents are only converting 23.1% of their third down attempts.

WHEN LOS ANGELES HAS THE BALL

• The Chargers have the second-highest usage of 22 Personnel and the fifth-highest usage of 21 Personnel with two running backs on the field.
• Only the Saints and Steelers are running the ball a higher percentage of the time than Los Angeles' offense and only the Bills are running it a higher rate on first downs.
• Of the yards Los Angeles has gained this season, 59.4% has come via the ground game, the highest-percentage in the league.
• Justin Herbert threw for just 130 in a winning effort in Carolina. The week before, he dropped back 28 times and threw for only 155 yards with a 5.5 yards per attempt in Week 1, completing just two of his eight passes for 28 yards that were 10-plus yards downfield in Week 1. Before this season, Herbert attempted fewer than 30 passes in a game just three times in his 62 NFL starts. He has attempted just 46 passes this season despite averaging 39.1 pass attempts per game for his career before 2024. The last time Herbert played against the Steelers, he threw for 382 yards with three touchdowns with a career-best 90 rushing yards.
• In Week 1, rookie Ladd McConkey was third among Chargers wide receivers in routes run (22) but led the team in targets with seven. In Week 2, McConkey's four targets and 19 routes run was only behind Quinton Johnston who had six and 19 respectively. Johnson has seen a target share of 21% and then 32% over the first two weeks. Johnson didn't see a target share of even 20% during his rookie season in 2023. Johnston's 11.5 average depth of target leads the team by a wide margin, with tight end Hayden Hurst coming in next at 9.0. Johnson is also creating 2.17 yards per route run compared to 1.86 for McConkey and .83 for Josh Palmer, who is tied with Johnson with 83% routes run per team drop back.
• McConkey's snaps have come out of the slot 58.2% of the time. Of the receptions Pittsburgh, 58.8% have allowed have come out of the slot (28^th).
• Joey Porter Jr. lined up opposite Courtland Sutton on 23 of his 35 routes. Sutton caught just one pass for 26 yards on those 23 snaps. This was Porter's sixth career game shadowing an opposing receiver on 65% or more of his routes. Only L'Jarius Sneed (7 games) has shadowed opposing receivers in more games since the start of last season. Through two games, Porter has given up three catches for 33 yards.
• Los Angeles has three different tight ends who have played 22 snaps or more with Hurst (73) and Will Dissly (60) having played 48%. Hurst has run a route on 78% of drop backs compared to 26% for Dissly.
• Only five defenses have a lower completion percentage allowed than Pittsburgh.
• Herbert was only sacked once last week and just twice this season.
• The Packers are the only offense with more rushing yards than the 395 produced by Los Angeles. The Steelers allow 76.5 rushing yards per game, fourth-best.
• In Week 1, J.K. Dobbins led the backfield in snaps (32), touches (13), and total yards (139) compared to Gus Edwards who played 22 snaps, touched the ball 12 times, but produced just 28 yards against the Raiders. Dobbins followed up that performance by rushing for another 131 yards in Carolina, and Edwards added 59 more yards on the ground. In Week 2, Edwards played 33 snaps compared to 32 by Dobbins.
• Dobbins' back-to-back 100-yard rushing games is the first time the Chargers have had a back-to-back 100-yard rusher since Melvin Gordon did it in 2016. Dobbins is looking to become the first player since Cadillac Williams in 2005 with 125-plus rushing yards in each of his team's first three games. Dobbins currently leads the NFL in rushing yards per game (133.0) despite ranking 21^st in carries (27). He is averaging 9.9 yards per carry. Dobbins does lead all running backs all-time in yards per carry at 6.2.
• Pittsburgh is allowing just 3.7 yards per rush attempt. Only five defenses are better. But the Chargers are gaining 5.6 yards per attempt, which is only behind the Colts, Packers, and Ravens. Only 2.4% of the rushing attempts against Pittsburgh have gone for 15-plus yards. Only six defenses are better.
• Per EPA, on early downs, there hasn't been a better pass defense than that of Pittsburgh. And only the Saints and Chargers have been better against the run. Overall, the Steelers have the best EPA on early downs in the NFL.
• The Steelers opponents are only converting 19% of their third down attempts, best in the league. Los Angeles' offensive drives get to third down 62% of the time, ahead of only the Bears.
• Only the Chargers have a better red zone defense this season than Pittsburgh. The Chargers haven't allowed a red zone touchdown.
• The 13 total points allowed by the Steelers defense is the fewest the team has allowed through two games since 2007.

SPECIAL TEAMS

• Through two games, Nick Herbig is leading the team with 40 special teams snaps. Payton Wilson, Connor Heyward, Mark Robinson and Miles Killebrew each have 37. Tyler Matakevich has 36. No one else has more than 23.

Most Memorable Moment

Jan. 15, 1995: AFC Championship Game: Chargers 17, Steelers 13

This was one of the most difficult games in Steelers history. After winning the AFC Central division with a 12-4 record, Bill Cowher's team earned a bye week in the first round of the playoffs. In the divisional round, Pittsburgh dismantled the Browns 29-9. That set up this game in Pittsburgh and the Steelers were a huge favorite, especially for a game this late in the playoffs. Pittsburgh got up early on a John L Williams touchdown run to cap off the opening drive and took a 10-3 lead into the locker room at halftime. But the back breaker for Pittsburgh was two 43-yard touchdown passes to Alfred Pupunu and Tony Martin from Stan Humphries, the final two scores of this game. Neil O'Donnell threw the ball 54 times, racking up 349 yards, but the Steelers couldn't get much going with their ground game led by Barry Foster, with Junior Seau making plays all over the field for the Chargers. San Diego went on to the Super Bowl and was crushed by Steve Young's 49ers. During the four seasons between the 1994 and 1997 season, the Steelers hosted the AFC Championship Game three times. This was the first of the three.

Key Matchups

Chargers Offensive Tackles vs. Steelers Outside Linebackers - Joe Alt was the first offensive lineman drafted this year and has been very impressive through two games. On the left side, Rashawn Slater is on the cusp of being regarded as one of the very best at his position. T.J. Watt is clearly one of the very best at his position. Slater will see Alex Highsmith, a terrific counter to Watt. Nick Herbig also should factor in this equation as a spark plug off the bench.

Steelers Offensive Tackles vs. Chargers Outside Linebackers - Rookie Troy Fautanu was excellent in his first career start at right tackle, and left tackle Dan Moore has been very solid this season. Bosa and Mack are healthy and off to excellent starts for the 2024 season. Bosa has really stood out as a run defender this season. The Chargers also have great depth at this position in Bud Dupree and Tuli Tuipulotu. Broderick Jones also could get involved in this game in some capacity. This will be a stiff test for the Steelers bookends.