An interesting question was posed on a recent Terrible Podcast: What is the impact of fast starts on both sides of the ball on winning? Today’s article aims to see how it has affected the Pittsburgh Steelers and their peers around the NFL.
I wanted to look back at enough data to be substantial, so the last decade (since 2015) will be included. Here is a visual of the teams’ first-quarter points scored (offense) and points allowed (defense):
We can clearly see that 2024 was a particularly poor year for Pittsburgh, with a -64 first-quarter point differential.