Fixing NFL-worst running game major priority for Steelers

Three days after watching his team total 52 rushing yards in ending a season in which it finished 32nd out of 32 NFL teams in that category, Mike Tomlin was asked to consider what went wrong with the Pittsburgh Steelers’ ground game.

Was it a collective failure on behalf of the running backs? Was it attributable to an offensive line that wasn’t clearing holes? The play-calling? Some have suggested the Steelers might not have showed enough of a commitment in trying to run.

So what was it?

“I think when you are dead last in anything,” Tomlin said, “it is all the above.”

There is truth in those words spoken at the coach’s season wrap-up video conference call. The Steelers’ rushing attack, particularly as the season progressed, fell somewhere along the spectrum from bad to dreadful to nonexistent.

Mike Tomlin no longer is downplaying the problems with the Steelers' run game. https://t.co/AM7qix2A1m

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) November 17, 2020

For a team that averaged almost 43 passes per game this season (including its wild-card playoff loss), it surpassed 20 rushes only twice over its final 11 outings. Six times in that span, the Steelers couldn’t reach 50 rushing yards. Twice, it didn’t surpass 22 yards.

Only once over the final 13 games of the season did the Steelers average at least 4 yards per carry. Over six of their final 11 games, they couldn’t even eclipse 3 yards per carry.

Pick a rushing statistic, and the Steelers were among the worst in the league.

Last in yards per game (84.4). Last in yards per carry (3.6). Second-last in rushing first downs (81). Fourth-to-last (tied) in rushing touchdowns (12).

Third-to-last in footballoutsiders.com’s rushing defense-adjusted value over average, its all-encompassing numerical evaluation tool. Third-to-last in Pro Football Focus’ grades for rushing offense, and second-last in its grades for run blocking.

Among 63 qualifying running backs who PFF’s individual grades for the position, the Steelers’ Benny Snell rated second-worst and James Conner 40th. Among the 47 backs with at least 100 carries, Football Outsiders rates Snell 46th and Conner 34th.

Starting offensive linemen Chuks Okorafor and Alejandro Villanueva (56th and 41st, respectively, among 59 qualifying tackles), David DeCastro and Matt Feiler (58th and 41st among 60 qualifying guards) and Maurkice Pouncey (28th among 32 qualifying centers) all ranked poorly in PFF’s run-blocking grades.

In short, when it comes to the Steelers’ running game, there are problems and they are many.

.@MarkMaddenX: #Steelers need more from running game to be legit contender https://t.co/e4QaFblUa8

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) December 10, 2020

“We better assess it as such,” Tomlin said. “We will not accept our current position in that area. We cannot. We have to attack that, and we will.”

Already, the Steelers have attacked it, and their initial method is via the coaching staff. Offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner and offensive line coach Shaun Sarrett were let go.

There is myriad opportunity for turnover among the relevant players to the run game, too. Conner, Feiler and Villanueva are free agents.

“I can’t control anything about the future,” Conner said days before what could have been his final game at Heinz Field after four seasons with the Steelers and four with Pitt. “So I am just being where my feet are, taking one day at a time. The rest is in God’s hands.”

It’s in the hands of Tomlin and general manager Kevin Colbert, too. And even though they have drafted a running back between the third and fifth rounds each of the past four years, the Steelers likely again will be adding to their running backs room this offseason, whether in the draft or in free agency — or both.

The same is true about an offensive line that is aging and has three players who started this season headed to free agency (counting the injured Zach Banner) and another (Pouncey) who could be mulling retirement.

Coaches, play-calling priorities, ball-carriers, blockers. As Tomlin said, “All of the above” figure to change if the Steelers are to fix their running game.

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