By the Numbers: 65,000 strong for home opener

A deeper dive into some key numbers from the regular season home opener against the Cincinnati Bengals. 65,072 The Steelers home opener is always somewhat of a city-wide holiday in Pittsburgh, and Steelers Nation came out despite a strong rain at kickoff...and several other times throughout the game. 46 That's the total number of rushing yards the Steelers defense gave up. Those 46 yards were distributed among 18 Bengals rushing attempts, resulting in just 2.6 yards per carry on average. 94 The Steelers rushing attack, however, was very effective. Five different Steelers players were credited with rushing attempts, including RB Le'Veon Bell, QB Ben Roethlisberger, WR Sammie Coates, RB Daryl Richardson, and RB Fitzgerald Toussaint. The work horse in the run game, however was Williams, logging 94 hard-earned yards on the ground in 32 attempts. 3 The Steelers offensive attack wasn't restricted to the run game. QB Ben Roethlisberger spread the ball around to nine different receivers on his way to 19 completions. Three of those were touchdown passes to RB DeAngelo Williams, TE Jesse James, and TE Xavier Grimble. 2The most memorable beneficiary of Roethlisberger's passing attack was WR Sammie Coates. Sure, he only recorded two catches, but those two resulted in 97 yards gained for a whopping 48.5 average yards per catch. 58 P Jordan Berry had eight punt attempts against the Bengals. Five of those punts forced the Bengals offense to start the drive inside their own 20-yard line. Berry's longest punt of the game was a booming 58-yarder. 5:50 The Steelers offense controlled the game by controlling the time of possession. The Steelers had possession of the ball for 32:55. Compare that to the Bengals' 27:05 and you get a 5:50 difference. 11 LB Ryan Shazier led the Steelers defense with 11 total tackles - 5 solo and 6 assists. Close at his heels were both Robert Golden (8 total tackles) and Ryan Shazier (7 total tackles). 9 The Steelers defense also spent some serious time knocking down passes. Six different Steelers defenders were credited with passes defensed. S Robert Golden knocked Bengals TE C.J. Uzomah out of bounds to break up a would-be touchdown catch. Also forcing incomplete passes were DE Cameron Heyward (2), CB William Gay (2), S Mike Mitchell (1), CB Stephon Tuitt (2), and CB Artie Burns (1) for a total of nine passes defensed. 81 & 85 Two young tight ends were on the receiving end of Ben Roethlisberger's touchdown passes. TE Xavier Grimble struck first hauling in a 20-yard reception late in the first quarter. Then, it was Jesse James' turn, who made a leaping catch between Bengals defenders to pull in a 9-yard touchdown catch.