Today’s Player Breakdown focuses on the offensive side of the ball and with Steelers starting RB Rashard Mendenhall.
A Little Background
‘Mendy’ (the name my wife and I use when we talk about #34) was drafted 23rd overall by the Steelers in 2008, inked a 5 year deal and only played 4 games his rookie season. Mendy replaced Willie Parker after he was injured during a game against the Ravens. Nine carries and 30 yards later #34 suffered a fractured shoulder caused by Ray Lewis’ tackle. He was placed on injured reserve – so much for your rookie season. However, he blew out of the gates in 2009. He replaced Willie Parker as the starting running back and had a huge break out game against the Chargers rushing for 165 yards and two touchdowns. He’s played all 32 games since becoming the starter in 2009 – a pretty good feat for a running back that has carried the ball 566 times in that span.
Stats stats stats
Rashard Mendenhall finished the season with 1,273 yards, 13 TD’s, and 2 fumbles (both lost) on 324 carries during the regular season. That’s an average of 3.9 yards/carry. He also caught the ball 23 times for 167 yards. Mendy went 189 carries before his first fumble of the season and fumbled in back to back games. His best stats came against that almost disastrous OT win against Buffalo – 36 carries, 151 yards and 1 TD. His least productive game came against Miami where he ran 15 times for 37 yards and no TD’s.
Mendenhall’s fumbling woes came to a head during the post season. He fumbled once during the divisional round against the Ratbirds half way through the second quarter during that terrible first half. However, he did have a one yard TD run at the end of a long Steelers drive (accumulated mainly by a long pass interference call) late in the first quarter and scored what would be the winning touchdown with just 1:30 left to play in the game.
Mendenhall performed well during the AFC Championship game against the Jets. He racked up 121 yards and a TD on 27 carries. During the Superbowl, #34 posted decent numbers with 63 yards and a TD on 14 carries (4.5 yard average). He fumbled for the second time in the post-season at the beginning of the 4th quarter, which is seen as one of the more pivotal plays effecting the outcome of that game.
Playmaker
There’s no question that Mendenhall can be a big playmaker. He has very explosive speed and can take off once he cuts around Scott or Adams (or a pulling Kemoeatu). The guy is incredibly strong as well (do you see his arms in the picture?) and can break through potential tackles. I have no official stat on this except from the AFC Championship game, but Mendenhall gains a ton of yards after he receives the first hit from a would be tackler – out his 50 first yards gained, 46 of them came AFTER the first hit. Mendenhall can bowl over tacklers and push a pile to gain that extra yard for a first down. His longest run of the season was 50 yards for a TD. He didn’t have too many of those this season, but his average 3.9 yds./carry is pretty fantastic for running 324 times. He also ranked #7 in total yards and tied for #2 in TD’s.
The Fumble
Does your gut also get queasy when you picture this play in your mind? How ’bout now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulq1xcyaU_w&feature=related
In what will be considered one of the most pivotal plays in SB XLV, Rashard Mendenhall loses the football on a very solid hit from Green Bay’s Clay Matthews. Back up center, Doug Legursky was to pull on that play and was pushed back by Ryan Pickett. That caused TE David Johnson to be late getting around Legursky to seal up Matthews before he could get to Mendenhall. Matthews got to Mendenhall very cleanly and knocked the ball out with his shoulder pad. Matthews wasn’t even trying to knock the ball out – he was just trying to wrap #34 up and make him fall backwards.
This play has caused many in Steelers Nation to complain about Mendenhall’s hands. Biggest game of your life and you should be holding onto that ball like your getting paid millions to do so… wait…..The Steelers were on the Green Bay 37 yard line and putting together a solid drive to potentially take the lead. That lost fumble seemed to take too much wind out of the team’s sails. They fought all game to get back close to the Pack and were on the doorstep to take the lead. The Pack would score on the drive ensuing the fumble, and the Steelers would scramble in the end only to come up short of a 7th Lombardi trophy. I was so ready to start throwing around the word ‘dynasty’ to all those Cheeseheads at the office too….
But it’s hard to place all the blame on Mendy. Despite his fumbling woes during the preseason of his rookie year, he’s been pretty darn consistent in holding onto the ball – 5 fumbles in three seasons is pretty good. Fellow slavery conspirator Adrian Peterson has had 20 (20!) fumbles in four years. Five fumbles is actually one of the lower amounts for backs who carry as much as Mendy. It was clear on this particular play that the offensive line didn’t do their primary job either, which is why I’ve been saying since draft talk started that o-line would be a smart pick in the early rounds of the draft. So I don’t think we in the Nation should get too down on Mendenhall.
The Future
Mendenhall is contracted through the 2012/2013 season. But the question from some is, ‘Will he last that long?’ Since he took over Bettis’ starting job in 2005, Willie Parker ran over 900 times before his season ending injury and the wheels coming off. Mendenhall is well on his way to reaching the same amount of carries over the same time span. Ed B of the PPG in his continual hate rant of Mike Tomlin said that Tomlin will indeed run Mendenhall into the ground just like Willie Parker. There is of course too, the Curse of 370, which Mendenhall reached during the post season. The life of a running back is short to begin with, and with the uncertainties of how the mediation of the CBA will go (and that 16 vs. 18 game season) it is also hard to speculate how long Mendenhall will last as an effective running back for the Steelers. He’s young at 24 years, so maybe he will last longer than Willie did – and (knocking on my wooden kitchen table) he’s been healthy for two years. But I doubt he will stick around as long as Jerome Bettis (10 years as a Steeler) or Franco Harris (12 years as a Steeler) did. He certainly has the skills to be the starter for quite some time, but his longevity will always be dictated by his health.