Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Steelers Running Game Update: Still Sucks


Dejan Kovacevic is reporting that Steelers could be out with Le'Veon Bell, the Steelers' first-round draft pick will be out longer than expected. Apparently Bell's Lisfranc injury, which is a rare midfoot sprain will keep Bell out about a month longer than expected. 

This is very unfortunate news for the Steelers, who just can't seem to catch a break at the moment, especially when it comes to their running game. The Steelers ran for just 32 yards off of 15 carries in week one vs the Tennessee Titans. Isaac Redman was the starter for the Steelers and run for a whopping 9 yards on 8 carries, fumbled twice, including once at the 5-yard line during a potential scoring drive. 

Redman is just fucking awful. 

During the game, LaRod Stephens-Howling  got injured and has since been put on IR, ending his season. For some reason Felix Jones didn't play a damn snap, despite the Steelers cutting Jonathan Dwyer and keeping Jones, who didn't look too bad in preseason. 

Now, the Steelers have brought back Dwyer after the Stephens-Howling injury and the unforgettably bad performance by Redman. The Steelers cutting Dwyer was a shock in the first place and most reports indicated that it was more personal than anything. The entire situation is bizarre and the Steelers' front-office and coaching staff are really starting to look like fools every day. 

Now the Steelers are going to roll with Dwyer, Redman, and Jones as their running back committee. That's with an offensive line that looks like complete dogshit, that lost it's best lineman, Pro Bowl center Maurkice Pouncey to a season-ending injury. 

Yikes. 

The most ironic thing about the shitty running game is this: When Mike Tomlin was hired in 2007 he said the following  about the direction of the offense: "A fundamentalist football team that wins by attrition, that's mentally and physically tough," Tomlin said. "Of course, there's no secret in the National Football League, in order to win you have to stop the run and you have to run the ball effectively. To be general, that's what our football team will be about."

That's hilarious. The running game has literally been the most inconsistent area of the football team under Tomlin every year. The Rooney's have cried and cried about the Steelers needing to get back to "Stillers football" but the Steelers just can't do it. Here's where the Steelers have finished over the years in terms of rushing in the NFL:

2012- 26th
2011- 14th
2010 -11th
2009-19th
2008- 23rd
2007- 3rd

Two decent years running the ball (2011, 2010) and one really good year (2007) and that's it. The rest of the years the running game has been mediocre at best. That is not going to give your team the best chance to win games and more importantly close out games, which the Steelers have been awful at doing during Tomlin's tenure. 

It would also help out Ben Roethlisberger a ton. During this same span (2007-2012) Tom Brady has had three top-10 running games. Not only that but the Patriots finished in the top half in rushing all of these years but one. Eli Manning has also benefited from three top-10 rushing offenses during the same span as well. Even the pass-happy New Orleans Saints, who have Drew Brees, have had more top-10 rushing attacks since Tomlin has been the head coach of the Steelers. 

The Steelers obviously need to be a pass-first offense with Big Ben, but they still need to have a quality running game for a chance to win. With this offensive line and the current state of the running backs, I do not see that happening in the formidable future. 


No comments:

Post a Comment