The good, the bad and the ugly from the Steelers win against the Bengals
By Eric Hassel
A running game that is too slowly evolving and is not complimenting the offense
When you think about the Steelers offense, you assume the rushing attack will always be an ingredient to a win because of the fact that a power-run game and a staunch defense have won the Steelers six Super Bowls. I will say that the passing game sealed the victory in Super Bowl XLIII. Nevertheless, it’s fair to say the Steelers have always been able to effectively ‘tote the rock.’
That is not the case so far this year, and that is just flat-out bad. Granted, the running game improved against the Bengals, but we still only ran the ball for 66 yards. The Bengals, by the way, are ranked 27th against the run through the first four weeks of the season.
Without knowing the offensive game plan, it’s probably unfair of me to state that the rushing attack is virtually non-existent so far this year, but the Steelers are ranked 29th in rushing yards per game through the first four games of the season. I don’t care how you slice it…that’s bad. The Steelers will not be able to win consistently if we don’t get this running game on the ‘fast track.’
What’s also bad is that Benny Snell Jr., the Steelers fourth-round pick in 2019, has a grand total of 30 yards on 6 carries for the season. Yes, he’s a rookie; yes, he is not the featured back and yes, he has only carried the ball 6 times, but the fact that we spent a fourth-round pick on a running back when we could have drafted Tony Pollard, for example, who has carried the ball 30 times for 149 yards for the Cowboys, tells me that Snell is not stating a case for himself to earn more carries.
Let’s wrap up this discussion by looking at the ugly elements of the game.