Steelers rushing game finds new life vs. Eagles in pre season game

The Steelers have not had many games recently rushing for more than 150 yards. They only had one such game in 2020 against the Texans.

Adding to that, they only had two in 2019, and one must go back to the 2018 season to find more than two games in one season in which they eclipsed the 150 total yards rushing mark. Against the Eagles, in week one of the NFL pre-season, the Steelers found new life for their stale rushing game.

Granted, the Steelers managed 76 total rushing yards against Dallas in the Hall of Fame game. Not a bad performance, just average. Perhaps with all the hype of the new rookie sensation Najee Harris, fans had hoped to see more or to see the rookie break off a long gainer. None of that happened against Dallas.

In the game with the Eagles, the Steelers seemed to move the ball at will on the ground, and the hapless Philadelphia defense could not stop them. The Steelers should have had more than 152 yards on the ground. Najee Harris had had two rushes netting 20 plus yards nullified in the 1st quarter, and John Leglue killed a ten plus yard rush in the 4th quarter with a holding penalty.

Aside from the holding miscues, the rookie Harris looked good on his four rushes, even though only two counted. Rookie Tony Brooks-James had a huge game by pre-season standards racking up 51 yards on nine carries. He had no touches in the Dallas game.  The 2nd year running back, Anthony McFarland, stepped up his game with nine rushes with 34 yards and one touchdown.  Jaylen Samuels, who only managed a mere 1.8 yards per carry average against Dallas, had 45 yards on ten carries with the Steelers’ other rushing touchdown. Coaches even got a good look at rookie Pete Guerriero who managed seven rushes for 20 yards.

In this game, we got no additional looks at Kalen Ballage, and so far, Benny Snell has been missing in action the first two games, not having touched the ball once. The fact that Snell has been injured to start the preseason may hurt his chances of making the final roster. We will see what happens in the last two pre-season games.

Granted, it’s only a pre-season game, and granted, the Eagles, like the Steelers, had many marginal players in the game, but still putting up 152 yards on the ground was something Steeler fans wanted and needed to see. It shows there is certainly new life in a rushing game that was dead on arrival in 2020. Fans saw new life in a part of the Steelers offense they needed and could not rely on in 2020, thus costing them a chance at the Superbowl.