Matt's Stats: Week 1 vs. Falcons

SERIES HISTORY

This series began in 1966 with Pittsburgh winning the only two meetings that took place in the '60s. The upcoming decades weren't any kinder to Atlanta, as the Steelers were 2-1 in the '70s, 3-0 in the '80s, and 4-0 in the ;90s. Since 2000, Pittsburgh is 5-1-1 against the Falcons, but the Steelers have won five in a row. Overall, the Steelers lead this series 16-2-1, and of course, the Falcons and Steelers have never met in the postseason. Both of the Steelers' losses against this franchise have come in Atlanta. Former Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski is 5-5 against Pittsburgh, including Cleveland's 2020 Wild Card victory. Mike McCarthy is 5-5 against Atlanta, including a playoff win while coaching the Packers.

MATCHUP OVERVIEW

• Atlanta won its final four games of the season but got off to a 4-9 start.

• The Falcons have had eight consecutive seasons under .500 (second longest streak) compared to the Steelers without a losing season since 2003.

• McCarthy has 11 postseason wins, third most among active head coaches. He has coached his team to the playoffs in 12 of 18 seasons as head coach.

• As head coach of the Browns, Stefanski had a 45-56 record but was 8-26 over his final two seasons. He was 5-5 against the Steelers during the regular season and the Browns won the only playoff matchup with Stefanski as head coach.

• The Steelers were 9-2 in games vs. teams that missed the playoffs last year. Against teams that went to the postseason, Pittsburgh went 1-5.

• Pittsburgh had a .700 winning percentage in one-score games. The only teams better were the Broncos, 49ers and Chargers.

• The Steelers were third in games led at halftime (11) but won only seven of those contests. They were 31st in losses in games they were winning at halftime (four).

• Atlanta led at halftime in 14 of 17 games last year.

• Atlanta averaged 11.9 points per game in the first half of games (11th) compared to 8.9 in the second half (28th). The Falcons gave up 10 points on average in the first half of games (11th). They allowed 13.1 points in the second half, better than only six teams, including Pittsburgh. They were outscored by 54 points in the third quarter alone (28th).

• Pittsburgh outscored opponents by 43 points (9th) in the first half of games but was outscored by 32 points (24th) in the second half.

• Aaron Rodgers ranks sixth all time in quarterback wins. His 163 career wins are only two behind Ben Roethlisberger for fifth place. Rodgers will join Tom Brady as the only two quarterbacks since 1950 to start a game at age 42 or older. He has a career 21-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio against Atlanta. Rodgers is 13 touchdown passes away from passing Peyton Manning for third overall in NFL history.

• Only 12 quarterbacks in NFL history have thrown for 50,000-plus yards in their career. Of those dozen quarterbacks, Rodgers has thrown the fewest pick-sixes with just five. Second on that list is a tie between Roethlisberger, Brady and John Elway with 18.

• With Tua Tagovailoa being named the opening day starter, the last time the Falcons had a quarterback start the opener in consecutive seasons was Matt Ryan. It is now six consecutive seasons with a new starting quarterback in Week 1.

• The Steelers were third in points off turnover margin (+51) compared to -43 for Atlanta, which was 29th.

• The Steelers had the NFL's fourth-best turnover differential (+12). Atlanta finished +5. Only three teams had more than Pittsburgh's 27 takeaways. Only the Vikings (13) recovered more fumbles than Pittsburgh (12). The Steelers turned the ball over just 15 times, tied for fourth fewest. Pittsburgh's +6 interception ratio was sixth best in the league. Atlanta's +8 interception ratio was better than all teams other than Chicago, Houston and Jacksonville.

• The Falcons fumbled 19 times and lost 10 of them. Their opponents fumbled 23 times and Atlanta only recovered seven of those 23. Only Chicago had a better record on fumble recoveries than the Steelers. Pittsburgh recovered 9 of their 14 fumbles on offense and 10 of 16 on defense.

• The Steelers were 29th in time of possession (28:22). Atlanta finished 18th (29:46).

• There have been 310 playoff teams since 2000. The Steelers 2025 season average time of possession ranks 307 of those 310 teams that made the playoffs.

• In McCarthy's five years as Cowboys head coach, they finished in the top eight of offensive plays every season. Last year, the Steelers were last in offensive plays (58.1) per game.

• Atlanta's sack differential (+31) was second best behind the Broncos last year. Pittsburgh's (+17) was fifth best.

• Since 2000, the Steelers have the most sacks in the league (1,161) and 52 more than any other franchise (Philadelphia). Atlanta has 862 sacks since 2000, more than only the Texans and Raiders.

• Only the 49ers and Lions utilized their running backs a higher percentage of the time in terms of offensive touches than the Falcons (3rd) and Steelers (4th).

• Pittsburgh's offensive linemen have the league's fewest number of combined starts (91). Atlanta's offensive line has the most (490).

• Pittsburgh was one of three teams not to commit an offensive holding penalty on third down last year. Only the 49ers were better than Pittsburgh's offense in committing false start and holding infractions. The Steelers were the most penalized in the league for offensive pass interference.

• McCarthy-coached teams committed the fourth most penalties in 2024, second most in 2023, eighth most in 2022, the most in the league in 2021, and 11th most in 2020.

WHEN PITTSBURGH HAS THE BALL

• The Steelers averaged 5.2 yards per play. Atlanta's defense allowed 5.3.

• Only four offenses ran fewer total plays than Pittsburgh in 2025.

• Pittsburgh threw the ball last year 59.3% of its snaps, seventh highest.

• The Steelers had more than five offensive linemen on the field for 19% of their snaps, highest in the league.

• Pittsburgh averaged 6.9 yards per pass play (sixth best) with one or fewer tight ends on the field. With two or more tight ends on the field, they averaged 4.7 yards per pass play (last in the league).

• Pittsburgh ran 14% of its plays with an empty backfield, the highest percentage in the league.

• The Steelers faced blitz at the league's lowest rate (19.5%).

• Only the Lions (2,422) had more yards after the catch than Pittsburgh (2,373).

• Rodgers had a league-low 2.52 average time to throw coupled with the shortest average depth of target (6.0 air yards). Rodgers threw a league-high 31.7% of his passes at or behind the line of scrimmage. League average in 2025 was 21.3%. Only 25.5% of his throws went 10+ yards downfield, the lowest rate in the league.

• In terms of percentage of touches in their respective offenses, only the Ravens, Raiders and Browns utilized the wide receiver position less than Pittsburgh. But only the Cardinals and Rams used the tight end position more.

• DK Metcalf averaged 3.9 receptions and 56.7 yards per game in his first season with the Steelers, both career lows. He had 55 or fewer yards in 11 of his 15 games. He was 32nd among all wide recievers in end-zone target share (21%).

• The Steelers averaged just 16 points per game during Metcalf's two-game suspension to end the regular season compared to 24.3 over their first 15 games.

• Michael Pittman Jr. only averaged 9.8 yards per catch last season, which was 127th among wide receivers. Pittman averaged 6.8 receptions per game in 2023, but just 4.3 and 4.7 the subsequent two years. His yards per game have dropped from 72 to 50.5 to 46.1.

• Last year, Darnell Washington played 52.9% of the snaps, Jonnu Smith played 51.9% and Pat Freiermuth played 50.6%. Freiermuth ran a route on 54.9% of dropbacks compared to 35.6% for Washington. Pittsburgh ran the ball 50% of the time when Washington was on the field compared to 32.9% for Freiermuth.

• Freiermuth is coming off career lows with 2.4 receptions and 28.6 yards per game and was targeted on a career-low 16.6% of his routes. Freiermuth had 78% of his targets come from the slot or out wide. Only three tight ends were higher.

• Washington's 1.72 yards per route run was 8th best among qualified tight ends and his 7.39 yards after the catch per reception ranked 5th best.

• Against opposing tight ends, Atlanta allowed a 68% catch rate (6th) and 3.1% touchdown rate (3rd).

• Pittsburgh had just 4.2 yards per pass when using play action compared to 6.5 without play action. No other offense had a difference of more than .5 yards in favor of not using play action.

• Only the Cardinals (2.8%) had a better drop rate than Pittsburgh's pass catchers (3.0%).

• 40% of the Steelers' targets from 2025 have left from a year ago. That is the third-highest percentage heading into 2026.

• The Steelers ranked second in running back target share last year.

• Warren and Rico Dowdle were two of just 20 running backs with at least 1,200 yards from scrimmage.

• Warren has averaged over 5.0 yards per touch in each of his four years. He had 1,291 total yards last season. His 13.2 carries per game was a career high but his 8.5% target share was his lowest in three years. However, Warren's 1.58 yards per route run was 6th best among all qualified running backs. Over the last three years combined, Warren's 4.7 yards per carry is 10th best among all running backs with at least 300 attempts. During that time, he is 7th in explosive rushes (12.7%), 2nd in targets per route run (25%) and 3rd in yards per route run (1.5). Warren averaged 11.0 yards after the catch, only behind Ty Johnson and Bucky Irving, but his average depth of target (-2.51) was only higher than Jordan Mason (-3.25).

• Dowdle had 1,373 total yards last year with Carolina and 1,328 with McCarthy in Dallas in 2024. He has 39 catches in each of the past two seasons.

• The Steelers averaged 103.3 rushing yards per game (26th) and finished with 44 rushes of 10+ yards (23rd).

• The Falcons allowed 4.8 yards per carry (29th) to running backs against offenses employing multiple tight ends on the field.

• Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, who was retained in his role, last year blitzed at the league's second-highest rate behind Minnesota and had the league's highest sack rate when blitzing. Atlanta's 57 sacks were second most in the league and a franchise record. The Falcons had 16 players record a sack and eight had at least 3.5.

• Rodgers averaged 5.1 air yards when blitzed, a league low.

• Brandon Dorlus had 6 sacks in his final eight games last year.

• The Falcons finished the season with 95 tackles for loss, fourth most.

• Atlanta has five new starters in its front seven from a year ago.

• Only Harrison Smith (39) and Kevin Byard (36) have more career interceptions among active players than safety Jessie Bates III (27). He's played two fewer years than Byard and six fewer years than Smith.

• The Steelers are spending the lowest amount of salary cap space on the offensive line ($12.36 million).

• Mason McCormick started all 17 games last regular season and was penalized just once.

• The Steelers converted on 38.4% of their third-down attempts, 20th overall. Atlanta allowed a conversion rate of 39.9%, 18th best.

• Pittsburgh's red-zone offense (56.6%) ranked 18th, while the Falcons defense (54.9%) ranked 12th.

WHEN ATLANTA HAS THE BALL

• The Falcons averaged 5.4 yards per play. Pittsburgh's defense allowed 5.5.

• The Steelers allowed a 54% completion rate on throws of 10+ yards downfield, better than only two defenses.

• On a per-drive basis, the Steelers' fourth-quarter defense ranked 32nd in score rate allowed per drive (60.4%), 32nd in percentage of drives that reached the red zone (40%), 31st in yards per drive allowed (36%) and 30th in forced-punt rate (17%). 174 of the Steelers' 387 points against came in the fourth quarter, the most total points allowed in the fourth quarter since the 2020 Raiders.

• Only the Colts (1,114) defense was on the field for more snaps than Pittsburgh's (1,112).

• Stefanski's offense with the Browns used multiple tight ends on 51.4% of snaps, highest in the league.

• The Steelers played with six or more defensive backs on the field for just 1% of their snaps, lowest in the league.

• Only the Cowboys (4,521) and Colts (4,462) allowed more passing yards than Pittsburgh (4,427).

• The Steelers allowed 2,058 yards after the catch, the 5th fewest in the league.

• A league-high 31% of passes against Pittsburgh were to the middle of the field. No other defense was above 26%.

• The Steelers faced the league's 2nd-fastest time to throw as well as the 3rd-shortest average depth of target.

• With Cleveland last year, when Tommy Rees took over the play-calling duties in Week 10, 65% of the Browns' designed targets went to running backs compared to 46% when Stefanski was calling plays.

• The Falcons only had 19 passing touchdowns in 2025. Only four offenses had fewer.

• Over the past two years Tagovailoa has averaged a league-low 6.2 air yards per pass attempt while throwing the ball outside the numbers at a 38.8% clip (26th). Tagovailoa has targeted running backs at a league-high rate (26.3%) over the past two seasons. Last year his interception rate (3.9%) ranked 32nd. Tagovailoa did complete 67.7% of his passes, 8th best.

• In his four seasons with the Dolphins, Tagovailoa has gone from averaging 273 passing yards per game to 272 to 260 to just 190 in 2025. His interceptions per game went from .62 to .82 to .64 to 1.07 last year.

• Over the past two years on throws 20+ yards downfield, Tagovailoa has a 32.8% completion rate (34th).

• The Falcons were one of three teams with three pass catchers with 65+ receptions.

• When healthy (he missed four games) Drake London's 30% target share was the 5th-highest in the league last season. With Michael Penix Jr. at quarterback, London averaged 10 targets, 6.4 receptions, 88 yards and .7 touchdowns per game. On a per-game basis for the season, London averaged 5.7 receptions (8th) for 76.6 receiving yards (7th). Combining the past two seasons, London is 9th in receiving yards per game (75.5), 8th in receptions per game (5.8), 4th in targets per game (9.3), 7th in target share (25.5%), 9th in yards per route run (2.34), and 5th in first downs per route run (.12). Over the past two seasons London produced 2.68 yards per route run out of the slot, 4th best.

• Steelers cornerback Jamel Dean allowed a 46.3% completion percentage (4th best) with the Buccaneers last year. Joey Porter Jr. allowed a 42.5% completion percentage with 0 touchdowns allowed over his final 10 games.

• Kyle Pitts Sr. posted career highs with 88 catches for 928 yards, both leading the Falcons for the season. Pitts was 2nd among all tight ends in targets, catches and yards. Over the final seven games, Pitts was second only to Arizona's Trey McBride among tight ends in receptions (41) and yards (494). On the 357 snaps when London was on the field, Pitts was targeted at an 18.5% rate with a 1.29 yards per route run compared to 28.6% and 2.56 when London was not on the field. With London, he averaged 43.5 receiving yards per game compared to 90.8 without London. He ran a route on 92.5% of Atlanta's dropbacks, only behind McBride. Since 2021 Pitts is only behind Travis Kelce, George Kittle and Mark Andrews in receiving yardage. He only received 4 end-zone targets in 2025, but only the Rams' Terrance Ferguson (13) had more targets of 20+ yards downfield than Pitts (11) among tight ends. Pitts' 1.71 yards per route run was 9th best among qualified tight ends. Pitts has just one 100-yard receiving game over the last four years. Only McBride (697) and Kelce (584) ran more routes than Pitts (544) and only McBride (27.4%) and Brock Bowers (23.6%) had a larger team target share than Pitts (22.7%).

• Pittsburgh allowed 6.4 receptions (30th) and a 7.9% touchdown rate (29th) to opposing tight ends.

• Other than London, Pitts and running back Bijan Robinson, only Darnell Mooney, David Sills and Tyler Allgeier had double-digit reception totals. Mooney, Sills and Allgeier are no longer with the team.

• The Steelers rushed six or more pass rushers on 10.5% of opposing dropbacks, the 4th-highest percentage in the league.

• Robinson accounted for 2,298 yards from scrimmage last year, leading the league. It was a Falcons record and 12th most in NFL history. Only Christian McCaffrey had more receiving yards among running backs. Over his first three seasons Robinson is one of three players in league history to compile 3,500+ rushing yards and 1,500+ receiving yards along with LaDainian Tomlinson and former Falcons player William Andrews. Robinson's 3,910 rushing yards over the past three seasons are only behind Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley. Last season Robinson's 1,091 rushing yards after first contact were the most in the league. Over the past three years his 2,716 yards after first contact is the most in the NFL. Robinson averaged 3.14 yards after contact per carry and was the only running back with 100+ carries over 3.0. As a receiver Robinson's 1,738 yards is the most in football over the three years he has been in the league. In the first half of games last year he averaged 6.1 yards per carry compared to just 4.0 in the second half. Robinson played 79% of the snaps last season. He played sparingly in Atlanta's final game of the season, but in the three weeks previous, Robinson racked up 672 yards from scrimmage. 40% of Robinson's targets came when he was aligned in the slot or out wide, the 2nd highest percentage among running backs. Robinson's 1.88 yards per route run was best among all qualified running backs last year. Robinson's 36 10+ yard runs ranked only behind De'Von Achane and James Cook III and only McCaffrey (518) ran more routes than Robinson (443). Over his three-year career Robinson has been on the field for 69.7% of Atlanta's dropbacks, the highest percentage in the league during that stretch. In terms of percentage of offensive touches, Robinson went from 32% as a rookie and 42.5% in 2024 to 45.2% last year.

• Tyler Allgeier rushed for 514 yards last season but is no longer on the team. Other than Robinson, Penix is the only returning Falcons player with even 70 yards on the ground.

• As a team, Atlanta averaged the most rushing yards after contact (2.67) in the league.

• Pittsburgh allowed 10 rushing touchdowns last year, 3rd fewest.

• Only the Raiders (169), coached by Steelers defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, allowed fewer rushing yards to quarterback scrambles than Pittsburgh (170).

• Eight of the Steelers' 10 highest games in terms of rushing yards allowed came when safety DeShon Elliott was sidelined with injury.

• Atlanta converted just 33 of its 3rd-down attempts, better than only the Vikings and Titans. The Steelers allowed a conversion rate of 43%, better than only six defenses.

• The Falcons ranked 10th in red-zone offense with a 62% conversion rate. Pittsburgh's defense had a conversion rate allowed of 51.7%, only behind the Vikings, Chargers, Broncos and Ravens.

• Only Carolina defensive lineman Derrick Brown (7) had more passes tipped at the line of scrimmage than T.J. Watt (6). Cameron Heyward had 5.

• The Steelers defense led the league in forced fumbles with 16 and was 2nd in fumble recoveries behind Minnesota.

• Pittsburgh's 10 defensive pass interference penalties accepted were fewer than only four defenses.

• The Steelers defense started drives on the 28.3-yard line on average, the 2nd-best starting field position among all defenses behind only Houston.

• Atlanta returns four of five offensive line starters from last season, only losing Elijah Wilkinson, who played every snap at right tackle.

• This game projects to being left tackle Jake Matthews' 197th consecutive start.

SPECIAL TEAMS

• Chris Boswell's 87.7% career field-goal rate now rates 6th best all time and Justin Tucker is the only kicker ahead of him that had a longer career than Boswell. After back-to-back seasons converting at least 90% of his field-goal attempts, Boswell's percentage dipped under 85% for just the third time in his career in 2025.

• Atlanta kicker Nick Folk has been in the league since 2007 and has made 85% of his field goals. He has only missed one attempt in each of the past three seasons and is 78 of 81 during that time.

• Only the Colts (5.9%) had a lower percentage of kickoffs result in a touchback than Pittsburgh (8%). Boswell's 7 touchbacks were the fewest among any kicker that appeared in all 17 games last season. He was the only kicker with under 10 touchbacks.

• Ben Skowronek had 21 combined special teams tackles and assists. Only three players had more.

Most Memorable Moment: Nov. 10, 2002, Heinz Field: Steelers 34, Falcons 34 (OT)

The Steelers controlled this game from the start and took a 17-7 lead into halftime. Going into the fourth quarter, Pittsburgh led 31-17, but the Falcons scored 17 points in the fourth against just three by the Steelers to send this into a scoreless overtime. This was a classic battle between two very different quarterbacks, Tommy Maddox and Michael Vick, who became a Steeler late in his career. Maddox and Vick combined for 812 yards of total offense. On the final play of this classic game, Maddox fired up a Hail Mary that was caught by Plaxico Burress. But Burress was ruled just short of the end zone. Burress ended this game with 253 receiving yards. This was the first overtime game at Heinz Field.

KEY MATCHUPS

• Falcons RB Bijan Robinson vs. Steelers linebackers: Simply put, Robinson is one of the best players regardless of position in the NFL. Stopping him will be a difficult chore, as it is every week for whoever is on Atlanta's schedule. Not only is Robinson an elite runner, but he is also a high-end receiving threat. Look for the Falcons to try and isolate him on Pittsburgh's linebackers in the passing game.
• Steelers offensive tackles vs. Falcons edge rushers: After many years of having a subpar group of edge rushers, the Falcons went all in to fix the problem with two first-round picks at the position in the 2025 NFL Draft. And it paid immediate dividends last season. However, neither Jalon Walker (injury) nor James Pearce (suspension) will be available for this contest. Meanwhile, the Steelers offensive tackle situation has also shifted quite a bit from last season.