Big Facts: Only 2nd Time To Have 3 QBs in 3 Weeks

One of the two franchises have made the playoffs in 25 of the last 30 seasons

Sunday marks the 30th all-time meeting between the two winningest franchises in the Super Bowl era and the only two teams to ever meet in the Super Bowl three different times. The consistency has even continued outside the championship years as last season was only the fifth time in the past 30 years that neither team made the playoffs.

Rare underdogs for the Cowboys at home

The Cowboys are double-digit underdogs at home for just the second time in the Super Bowl era, and the first since the 1989 season. Dallas is more than a 13-point underdog against the undefeated Steelers this week, especially with Andy Dalton now out and the Cowboys to start either Cooper Rush or Garrett Gilbert. The last time the Cowboys were this big of underdogs at home was in 1989 against the defending and eventual-Super Bowl champion 49ers, who were 14-point favorites and won 31-14.

McCarthy has never beaten the Steelers, except ...

Mike McCarthy has beaten ever team in the NFL in the regular season ... except for the Steelers, losing all three meetings. Of course, McCarthy's greatest win of his career, a Super Bowl XLV win at AT&T Stadium in 2011, was against the Steelers, the team he idolized growing up as a Pittsburgh native.

The last time the Steelers started 7-0, they defeated the Cowboys in Super Bowl XIII

2020 marks just the second time in Steelers franchise history where they have started a season undefeated through the first seven games. The only other time they did so was in 1978 when they started 7-0 prior to losing to the Houston Oilers in the eighth matchup of the year. While a Texas-based team halted the hot start, the Steelers had the last laugh finishing 14-2 that season and securing a 35-31 win over Tom Landry and the Cowboys in Super Bowl XIII for their third Lombardi Trophy.

Dak's last 4th quarter > Last 3 games combined

Dak's final fourth quarter netted more points than the last three games combined. Although the Cowboys lost to Cleveland, Dak helped the offense score 24 points in the fourth quarter alone. In three games without Dak Prescott, the Cowboys have a total of just 22 points, scoring 10, 3 and 9 points in the last three games. In the five games with Dak Prescott under center, the Cowboys scored over 22 points in a single half, three different times. Overall, the scoring average with Dak as a starter was 32.6 and it's dipped to 7.3 without him.

Cowboys are the only team in the NFL with 3 receivers with 400-plus yards

Even with the struggles on the offensive side of the football and the second-worst passing attack since Week 6, Dallas is still the only team to boast three 400-plus yard receivers. Amari Cooper leads the way with 588 yards while CeeDee Lamb (524) and Michael Gallup (432) are not far behind. Meanwhile, The Steelers have their own set of powerful receivers with the trio of Chase Claypool, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and Diontae Johnson being the only teammates with 20-plus receptions and three touchdowns on a single roster this season.

First time since 1994 to have 3 QBs in consecutive weeks.

While this is the just the third time in franchise history to start four quarterbacks in one season, Sunday marks the second time ever, and first since 1994 to see the Cowboys start three quarterbacks in consecutive weeks. Whether it's Garrett Gilbert or Cooper Rush, it will make a third straight passer, following Andy Dalton and Ben DiNucci. Back in 1994, Jason Garrett had that memorable Thanksgiving Day start in place of Troy Aikman, who started the game before. But few remember that Rodney Peete started the next game at Philadelphia, making it three straight starters. However, that year the Cowboys went 3-0 with those quarterbacks.

Trevon Diggs put together first multi-interception game for a Cowboys rookie since 2010

It had been nearly a decade since a Cowboys rookie had strung together a performance like corner Trevon Diggs did this past Sunday in Philadelphia. Diggs became the 11th rookie in franchise history with a multi-interception game and the first to do so since teammate Sean Lee picked off a pair of passes against Indianapolis on December 5, 2010. As he looks to expand upon his feat, he has eight remaining games where he could replicate the duo of interceptions and become the second rookie in Cowboys history to have more than one such game (Everson Walls, four times).

Steelers WR won two state titles at AT&T Stadium

There's one Pittsburgh player who should know AT&T Stadium rather well. Wide receiver James Washington played his last high school game there and his first collegiate game as well. After helping Class 1A Stamford High School (near Abilene) to two straight state titles, Washington went to Oklahoma State, where he played Florida State in the 2014 season opener. Washington won the Biletnikoff Award at OSU and has been one of the key role players for the high-powered Steelers offense.

Pittsburgh's top three pass rushers have more sacks than the Cowboys' entire team.

T.J. Watt leads the Steelers with 6.5 sacks, followed by Bud DuPree and Stephon Tuitt, with 6.0 sacks each. Those 18.5 sacks between them are more than the Cowboys as a group, with just 17 sacks, led by Aldon Smith, who has five. Pittsburgh is first in the NFL with 30 sacks, while the Cowboys are tied for 15th in the league.

Dallas has allowed more quarterback pressures than any other team in 2020

There is a bit of added pressure both literally and figuratively this week as the Steelers elite pass rush comes to town and faces one of the worst offensive lines in football. Dallas leads the league with 127 quarterback pressures, two more than the Giants (125) and way ahead of the third worst team in the Bengals (109). The Cowboys have allowed 10 sacks for a loss of 103 yards over the last two weeks alone against Philadelphia and Washington.

Zeke has never had more than 9 games in a season under 100 yards.

Entering Week 9, Ezekiel Elliott has yet to surpass 100 yards in a single game, giving him eight games so far under the century mark. While the Steelers rank fifth in the NFL against the run, they did allow their first 100-yard rusher of the season last week in Baltimore rookie J.K. Dobbins, who rushed for 113 yards.

Steelers have never won a game at AT&T Stadium

It's not like they play here every year – twice to be exact. But since AT&T Stadium has been functioning since 2009, it's still rather odd the Steelers have never won in this building. The first loss was the 2010 season in the Super Bowl, falling to Mike McCarthy's Packers. Then in 2012, the Steelers loss to Dallas in overtime, thanks to a Brandon Carr interception that set up the game-winning field goal. But that's it for the postseason or regular season and the two teams have never met in Arlington for a preseason game. The Steelers are one of just four teams (Dolphins, Bengals, Colts) to have never won a game in this stadium, of any kind.