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Chargers' 41-37 victory over the Steelers by the numbers

Los Angeles Times staff
·6 min read
Inglewood,

Breaking down the notable numbers behind the Chargers' 41-37 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers at SoFi Stadium on Sunday.

1

Touchdown allowed by the Steelers on the opponent’s first drive this season. The Chargers became the first when Austin Ekeler ran six yards for a score to complete a 17-play drive.

5

Career games in which Ekeler has had at least one receiving and one rushing touchdown. That’s second to Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson (seven) on the Chargers’ all-time list. Ekeler had two each against Pittsburgh.

3

Running backs in 30 years to score at least five rushing and five receiving touchdowns in the first 10 games of a season, after Ekeler joined Kareem Hunt and Marshall Faulk. Ekeler has run for a career-high seven this season.

4

Players since 1950 to throw for at least 7,000 yards in their first 25 starts, after the Chargers’ Justin Herbert joined Patrick Mahomes, Kurt Warner and Dan Marino.

10

Career games in which Herbert has thrown at least three touchdown passes. Only Marino (13) has more such games in his first two seasons since 1950. Herbert also ran for a QB franchise-record 90 yards.

Summary

Pittsburgh 3 7 0 27 — 37

CHARGERS 7 10 10 14 — 41

First Quarter

Pittsburgh — Field goal Boswell 36, 8:29. Drive: 14 plays, 57 yards, 6:31. Key plays: Roethlisberger 8 pass to Claypool on 3rd-and-5, Roethlisberger 4 pass to Freiermuth on 3rd-and-3, Roethlisberger 16 pass to D.Johnson. Pittsburgh 3, CHARGERS 0.

CHARGERS — Ekeler 6 run (Hopkins kick), 2:09. Drive: 13 plays, 73 yards, 6:20. Key plays: Roberts kick return to CHARGERS 27, Herbert 22 pass to Williams on 3rd-and-14, Herbert 11 pass to K.Allen, Ekeler 3 run on 3rd-and-2, Herbert 17 pass to Williams on 3rd-and-3. CHARGERS 7, Pittsburgh 3.

Second Quarter

CHARGERS — Ekeler 10 pass from Herbert (Hopkins kick), 3:42. Drive: 12 plays, 98 yards, 6:54. Key plays: Ekeler 10 run, Herbert 18 run on 3rd-and-6, Herbert 10 pass to Parham, Herbert 18 run, Herbert 18 pass to K.Allen. CHARGERS 14, Pittsburgh 3.

Pittsburgh — D.Johnson 10 pass from Roethlisberger (Boswell kick), 1:09. Drive: 8 plays, 64 yards, 2:33. Key plays: McCloud kick return to Pittsburgh 36, N.Harris 12 run, Roethlisberger 22 pass to D.Johnson. CHARGERS 14, Pittsburgh 10.

CHARGERS — Field goal Hopkins 30, :02. Drive: 9 plays, 63 yards, 1:07. Key plays: Herbert 14 pass to K.Allen, Herbert 10 pass to Cook, Herbert 18 pass to Guyton. CHARGERS 17, Pittsburgh 10.

Third Quarter

CHARGERS — Ekeler 17 pass from Herbert (Hopkins kick), 11:50. Drive: 7 plays, 70 yards, 3:10. Key plays: Roberts kick return to CHARGERS 30, Herbert 30 pass to K.Allen on 3rd-and-13, Herbert 14 pass to K.Allen, Ekeler 12 run. CHARGERS 24, Pittsburgh 10.

CHARGERS — Field goal Hopkins 41, 3:40. Drive: 11 plays, 51 yards, 6:28. Key plays: Herbert 17 pass to Palmer, Herbert 13 run on 3rd-and-5. CHARGERS 27, Pittsburgh 10.

Fourth Quarter

Pittsburgh — Field goal Boswell 36, 14:10. Drive: 11 plays, 57 yards, 4:30. Key plays: Roethlisberger 28 pass to Claypool on 3rd-and-2, Roethlisberger 7 pass to N.Harris on 3rd-and-2. CHARGERS 27, Pittsburgh 13.

Pittsburgh — N.Harris 1 run (Boswell kick), 11:35. Drive: 4 plays, 3 yards, 00:58. CHARGERS 27, Pittsburgh 20.

CHARGERS — Ekeler 5 run (Hopkins kick), 8:48. Drive: 8 plays, 75 yards, 2:47. Key plays: Herbert 11 pass to Parham, Herbert 12 pass to Parham, Herbert 36 run on 3rd-and-5. CHARGERS 34, Pittsburgh 20.

Pittsburgh — Ebron 5 pass from Roethlisberger (Boswell kick), 4:49. Drive: 10 plays, 75 yards, 3:59. Key plays: Roethlisberger 16 pass to Claypool, Roethlisberger 4 pass to McCloud on 3rd-and-3, Roethlisberger 32 pass to D.Johnson on 3rd-and-5, Roethlisberger 18 pass to Ebron. CHARGERS 34, Pittsburgh 27.

Pittsburgh — Freiermuth 5 pass from Roethlisberger (Boswell kick), 4:23. Drive: 2 plays, 11 yards, 00:13. Key play: Sutton 4 interception return to CHARGERS 11. Pittsburgh 34, CHARGERS 34.

Pittsburgh — Field goal Boswell 45, 3:24. Drive: 4 plays, 7 yards, 00:19. Pittsburgh 37, CHARGERS 34.

CHARGERS — Williams 53 pass from Herbert (Hopkins kick), 2:09. Drive: 4 plays, 75 yards, 1:15. Key play: Herbert 17 pass to Ekeler. CHARGERS 41, Pittsburgh 37.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING: PITTSBURGH, Harris 12-39, Snell 2-7, McCloud 1-5, Ballage 1-3, Claypool 2-1. CHARGERS, Herbert 9-90, Ekeler 11-50, Palmer 1-6, Rountree 2-5, Roberts 1-4, Guyton 1-2, Jackson 1-2.

PASSING: PITTSBURGH, Roethlisberger 28-44-0-273. CHARGERS, Herbert 30-41-1-382.

RECEIVING: PITTSBURGH, D.Johnson 7-101, Claypool 5-93, Harris 5-20, Freiermuth 4-11, Ebron 3-24, McCloud 2-12, Washington 2-12. CHARGERS, Allen 9-112, Ekeler 6-65, Williams 5-97, Parham 4-38, Cook 3-28, Guyton 1-18, Palmer 1-17, McKitty 1-7.

PUNT RETURNS: PITTSBURGH, None. CHARGERS, Roberts 1-(minus 1).

KICKOFF RETURNS: PITTSBURGH, McCloud 2-63. CHARGERS, Roberts 2-45.

TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS: PITTSBURGH, Sutton 7-3-0, Norwood 6-1-0, Pierre 5-0-0, Bush 4-0-0, Highsmith 3-3-1.5, Te.Edmunds 3-1-0, Schobert 3-1-0, Wormley 3-1-0, Maulet 3-0-0, Heyward 2-0-0, Witherspoon 2-0-0, Charlton 1-1-.5, Joseph 1-1-0, Spillane 1-0-0, Tuszka 1-0-0, Archibong 0-2-0, Buggs 0-1-0. CHARGERS, White 6-3-0, Samuel 5-2-0, Davis 5-0-0, Adderley 4-1-0, Campbell 4-0-0, Bosa 3-1-1, Harris 3-1-0, James 2-4-0, Nwosu 2-0-1, Fehoko 1-2-0, Gaziano 1-2-0, Fackrell 1-0-1, Brown 1-0-0, Norton 1-0-0, Tranquill 1-0-0, Jones 0-3-0, Rumph 0-2-0, Marshall 0-1-0.

INTERCEPTIONS: PITTSBURGH, Sutton 1-4. CHARGERS, None.

FIELD GOALS MISSED: None.

Officials — Referee Carl Cheffers, Ump Tra Blake, HL Jerry Bergman, LJ Jeff Seeman, FJ Nathan Jones, SJ Eugene Hall, BJ Matt Edwards, Replay Andrew Lambert.

Attendance — 70,240.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.