The Steelers couldn’t move the ball on the ground against the Cowboys in Week 9. Here’s why fans have cause for concern.
Prior to Week 9, the Dallas Cowboys were dead last in the league in rushing yards allowed per game. The middle of their defense was a gaping hole you could drive a truck through. But that all changed when they played the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
The Steelers have not been known as a run-first football team since the days of Jerome Bettis and Willie Parker. In Ben Roethlisberger’s later years, they have been a pass-happy team that has excelled in slinging the ball. But not being able to run against a shaky Dallas defense is more than a little concerning.
Though James Conner has had three games this season in which he eclipsed 100 rushing yards, it’s worth noting that those came in the first five games of the season against Denver, Houston, and Cleveland. Recently, however, the run game has been non-existent.
The question is why?
While Pittsburgh, for the most part, abandoned the run early against the Dallas Cowboys, they were having no success before essentially scratching it from the playbook, and the longest run of the afternoon came from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on an 8-yard scramble.
Though I’m not opposed to spreading teams out and passing the ball more, the Steelers will need to have a more efficient run game moving forward if they want to have a well-balanced offense heading into the playoffs. Here are three reasons Pittsburgh’s running game has been so inefficient:
Steelers offensive play calling
I’m not the type of person who is going to sit here and blame everything on the coaching staff. This team is 8-0 for the first time in the history of the franchise, and I think all of Pittsburgh’s coaches deserve at least some level of credit. However, Randy Fichtner just isn’t getting the job done in the first half of games.
The Steelers offensive coordinator routinely finds it necessary to run on situations when either the defense knows that it’s coming or when he has no business running. Unlike some of the other good franchises around the league, Pittsburgh does a poor job disguising which plays are going to be a run, and Fichtner has called too many first-down runs this season.
But it’s more than just that. Fichtner has been calling runs on plays the Steelers have no business running the ball. Two plays immediately come to mind against Dallas. The first was a 2nd and 14. After losing yards on a pattened Fichtner running back screen pass, the team attempted to run on second and 14 – losing yards yet again. This put the Steelers in a 3rd and 16 situations in which they were content just dumping the ball underneath.
The second play that comes to mind is when Fichtner called the exact same draw to Anthony McFarland on both 3rd and 4th down. Both yielded the same result. I’m not saying that Fichtner needs to be fired right away, but his conservative first-half play-calling has been holding the Steelers back.
James Conner isn’t getting the job done
I’m not saying that James Conner isn’t the right man for the job at this point in time, but hasn’t gotten the job done in more than half the games the Steelers have played this year. To sum up the first half of his 2020 season, he’s been wildly inconsistent.
Much of this has to do with the defense and how many players are in the box. Though he does have three 100-yard games under his belt, he has averaged just 40.8 rushing yards per game in the other five contests this season, according to Pro Football Reference. In 4 of those games, he has rushed between 1.5 and 3.1 yards per carry.
This is clearly not a recipe for success, and when you are running like this, it’s like flushing your opportunities down the toilet. Against Dallas, Conner carried the ball 9 times for 22 yards and took his only reception for a 2-yard loss.
I’m not saying that Conner is the root of the Steelers problems on the ground. However, he does lack many of the elite traits you would like to see in a feature back. With just 24 carries over the past two full games, it makes you wonder if Pittsburgh is going to be inching towards a committee approach soon or if they are just going away from the run altogether.
Lack of running lanes
When the Steelers to dial-up a run, there never seems to be a lot there. Neither Conner nor Anthony McFarland could scoot free for more than 6 yards against the Cowboys in Week 9 and the two running backs averaged less than 2.5 yards per carry.
Benny Snell was even worse with his opportunities. Though he carried the ball just 3 times, he managed 0.3 yards per carry. While Pittsburgh doesn’t exactly possess the NFL’s most talented backfield, it makes you wonder if more blame shouldn’t be passed around to the offensive line.
If you go back and watch the game, there aren’t a lot of running lanes to be found. It wasn’t a matter of poor ball-carrier vision and Pittsburgh running backs missing holes, rather they just didn’t exist against the Cowboys.
Going up against a defensive line that has been manhandled by the rest of the league so far, we would have liked to see a much better performance from the Steelers offensive line in Week 9. They will need to step it up going forward.
We are still just halfway through the season, but we would have liked to see more consistent success on the ground by now. Let’s hope the Steelers find their stride late in the season.