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The Pittsburgh Steelers have hit a bumpy patch in the 2021 season. Surrendering large leads, getting blown out in a handful of games, and some sloppy overall play, the Steelers are definitely in a funk. Despite this, some of their players are creeping up on career, season, and personal achievements many of which will fall next Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. Below is what you need to keep an eye out for when it comes to some Steelers making history.
Ben Roethlisberger 5th All-Time passing yards (26 yards away)
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The biggest and definitely most likely record to fall is Ben Roethlisberger surpassing Philip Rivers for fifth place on the all-time passing yards leader list. Just 26 yards shy of his 2004 draft classmate, Roethlisberger passing Rivers here will cement his legacy not only as the winningest quarterback of the class but as the statistical leader of one of the best quarterback groups in the history of the sport. The man known as Big Ben could possibly break this record on his first throw from scrimmage and with any luck will break this record on the Steelers first drive of the next game.
Ben Roethlisberger 7th/6th All time passing touchdowns (5/6 away)
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From a record that is definitely going to fall to one that certainly will not (unless Ben somehow turns the clock back). Roethlisberger can pass both Dan Marino and Philip Rivers to move as high as sixth place in the NFL‘s all-time leading passing touchdown list. With four games remaining on the season it’s very likely Roethlisberger will topple both of these names, but against Tennessee it’s more likely he just moves closer to history. Not every record can fall in one game.
T.J. Watt Steelers sacks in a season (.5 away)
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This one pretty much hinges on the health of superstar pass rusher. What is there that hasn’t already been said about Watt? He’s been the Steelers best player in 2021 and makes them significantly better team when he plays every snap. Problem is Watt has been injured on three different occasions this year, and that is beginning to affect the team. Nonetheless, Watt just needs to meet someone at the quarterback to surpass James Harrison as the Steelers’ all-time sacks leader in a season record. The last time this record was broken Harrison was the NFL’s defensive player of the year, will history repeat itself?
Diontae Johnson 1st career 1,000 yards receiving (10 away)
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Another extremely likely record to fall is Diontae Johnson passing his first ever thousand yard milestone. Basically one reception is all it’s going take for the third year Steeler to leave his mark on the team. Johnson has continue to impress in 2021 and will be rewarded for it by his first ever thousand yard receiving year.
Najee Harris 1st career 1,000 rushing yards (127 away) + 1 touchdown away from 10 in his career
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This one might be a little tough for Harris to surpass, however the Steelers phenom rookie running back has a shot to surpass his first career thousand yard rushing year in his first ever season. The most impressive part of this feat is how poor the offensive line has been this year meaning Harris has been able to do a lot of this on his own. He deserves the achievement of 1,000 yard rushing year for what he’s been able to do and hopefully he can surpass it this week.
Harris is also 182 yards rushing away from surpassing Franco Harris’ Record for rushing yards by a rookie. 182 yards is possible to go down in one game but Harris hasn’t come close the total yet this year, but you never know.
Minkah Fitzpatrick 1st 100 tackle season (12 away)
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You never want your free safety to be your leading tackler, but Minkah Fitzpatrick has been able to bail out this team time and time again and will surpass the stat at some point this year. It may not be against Tennessee but Fitzpatrick will have well over 100 tackles in 2021. He has been a heat seeking missile for this team tackling everything in sight this year with quarterbacks throwing the ball away from him on every play possible. Hopefully next season Fitzpatrick is breaking interception records rather than tackle milestones, but here we are…
But what do you think? How many of these milestones will be picked up next Sunday? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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