I still have an entire overview of the Pittsbugh Steelers' Week 1 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in the works, but first, a few quick notes on the noteworthy string of success the six-time Super Bowl champs have enjoyed in recent years in their season openers.
- With their 15-9 defeat of the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Steelers extended their winning streak in Week 1 to eight consecutive years. The last time the black and gold lost their season opener was way back in 2002, when the New England Patriots handled Pittsburgh 30-14.
- The Steelers last lost a Week 1 home game in 2000, when the Baltimore Ravens blanked the Steelers 16-0 at Three Rivers Stadium.
- I thought Coach Tomlin did a nice job with this season's opener - both in terms of how he had his team prepared to play, how they didn't allow Ben Roethlisberger's suspension to be a distraction this offseason, and finally, how he constructed a strategy to get past the Falcons with a win, even if it was far from pretty at times. With the win, Tomlin improved his Week 1 record to 4-0 since taking over the reigns of the Steelers in 2007.
- I found this statistic to be quite impressive - the Steelers have now won 21 of their past 26 tilts against NFC opponents. And arguably equally interesting is the fact that four of those five out-of-conference losses have come since 2007, Tomlin's first year at the helm. Coach Cowher's squad dropped a high-scoring affair to the Falcons in '06, but had gone on quite a nice streak going against NFC opponents prior to that wild affair at the Georgia Dome.