3 reasons Steelers running backs have not been as dominant as expected

It hasn’t been the start of the season that many Steelers fans had hoped for. A strong offseason and preseason paved the way for some higher expectations, and while some groups have shined, others have fallen flat. Despite an even record, things don’t look great for Pittsburgh.

One of the biggest surprise disappointments has been the running game. The entire offseason was built around this unit, adding more blockers and scheming the skill position players to be ones that can chip in and block. With Kenny Pickett succeeding down the stretch with a potent run game, the team seems committed to an offense focused on the running backs.

The offense has been anything but that so far this year. The Steelers have run the ball a combined 31 times over two games, and as a team haven’t secured over 100 total rushing yards yet. I wanted to take some time to dissect this running game and see what the issue is and why the team is struggling on the ground.

1. The Steelers offense as a whole has been abysmal

For all of my vibrant “Fire Matt Canada” fans, this section is for you. While the entirety of the blame shouldn’t be on him, he certainly hasn’t helped. This offseason, the Steelers offense showed a lot of different looks from what we had seen a year ago. While the core of the offense was still the same, it seemed like execution would be different, and ideally, better.

Then week one happened, and it was quickly apparent that the expected changes, and even the changes we saw in the preseason, weren’t being used to great effect. Neither week one nor two saw the team put a lot of effort into establishing a ground game. Instead, it was back to the lazy concepts that this team struggled with a year ago.

To be fair, it is hard to commit to running the ball when you are down by a lot as was the case in week one, but committing to the run game never seemed like the intention. Instead, the honus was put on Pickett making the jump, something that hasn’t happened yet. Canada and the scheme deserve a lot of blame, but he is neither the only issue nor the primary issue.