Over the past three seasons, the Pittsburgh Steelers have ranked 32nd, 29th and 32nd in running yards. They also qualified 32nd, 30th and 24th in yards per attempt, although they were sometimes successful in putting the ball in the end zone – they came in seventh in run touchdowns in 2018.
Overall speaking, however, it is extremely evident that racing game is a problem, and it is also extremely apparent that there are many facets of the equation involved that are making them an ineffective team to run the ball.
It is something that coach Mike Tomlin acknowledged in the middle of last season, although his efforts to get things back on track have been hampered by James Conner’s health and the fact that they have repeatedly buried themselves in holes.
Tomlin reiterated the obvious earlier today during his end-of-season press conference, when asked what the specific flaws in this unit were. “I think when you’re dead on anything, it’s all over,” he said. “We had better evaluate it as such. We will not accept our current position in this area. We can not. We have to attack this, and we will do it ”.
The Steelers ended the 2020 season with 373 runs, the 28th largest in the league, for just 1351 yards and 12 touchdowns at just 3.6 yards per load. Including the postseason, they have been kept less than 100 yards in 11 of their 12 final games.
And yet they took over 100 yards in each of the first five games, and had four individual 100-yard efforts in that period. Their success at the start of the season on the field continues to be confusing regarding the difficulties they would have at the end of the year.
Aside from availability issues, Conner had a reasonable season for himself. He ran 721 yards on just 169 loads, averaging 4.3 yards per attempt, with six quick touchdowns and another 215 yards as the receiver.
In his second season, running back Benny Snell ran for only 368 yards in 111 attempts, averaging just 3.3 yards per load, although he also had four scores. Newcomer Anthony McFarland added 113 yards in 33 attempts at 3.4 yards per. Jaylen Samuels had only nine attempts for 28 yards. His biggest move came from Ray-Ray McCloud, who had a 58-yard end-around to account for the majority of his 65-yard run.
Conner is set to be an unrestricted free agent, as are three of the Steelers’ attackers, including two holders and the other who could be the holder. Guys, as Tomlin suggested, it’s just a problem, however. There is also scheme, technique, etc.