By: Bill Washinski
SteelerNation.com
After a strong start running the ball and 4 100-yard games in the first 5 weeks, the running game has seemingly hit a brick wall. To find some answers, here is a breakdown of 6 plays in the last 3 weeks to help understand what is going on:
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Cincinnati Bengals
1. Not Fast Enough.
The Steelers want to get something going on the ground early and actually, it starts off as a very well designed run. James Conner has a nice lane in front of him with Chuckwuma Okorafor pulling to be the lead blocker.
The Bengals CB Mackensie Alexander is lined up in man coverage vs. JuJu Smith-Schuster but immediately reads the play and penetrates enough to gain the attention of Okorafor, who tries to chip him and continue. Who is to blame can fall on 3 different Steelers. First, Okorafor's block on Alexander wasn't necessary as despite a great read and aggressive play, has actually over pursued and really took himself out of the play. Second, as much as we aren't exactly Le'Veon Bell fans here, Conner demonstrates the lack of Bell's incredible patience and vision as he runs full speed -- either unaware Okorafor is not in position or just determined to break it outside.
Bengals LB Josh Bynes was initially caught inside and was Okorafor's responsibility to block. The problem is that Alexander's disruption has enabled Bynes to get sideline containment before Conner could make that corner. While this is play Willie Parker would absolutely make, pure speed is not Conner's strength and he is forced back inside. Alexander was easily put on the ground by Okorafor, but to his credit, he quickly got up and made his way back into the play to make the tackle for a mere 1-yard gain. Third, the man caught standing still is Schuster himself. While a lot of comparisons to Hines Ward have been made as far as his toughness and team first mentality as a receiver, they didn't shine through as a blocker here. Smith-Schuster is caught the no mans land of indecision and not only does he not even impede Bynes, he instead impedes Okorafor. With proper execution, this 1-yard play should have easily been a 1st down run.
2. Call the Guard.
This isn't a running play, but if there is one player above all on the line who appears to be struggling more than the rest, it is Matt Feiler. And let's note - Conner did have a 7-yard run to set up this 3rd and 2. The Steelers run a play that has been a staple of the offense for years and it's set up perfectly to work again. Ben Roethlisberger takes the snap out of the shotgun and like a true vet, not only allows the play but expertly baits a blitzing Vonn Bell to drop the short pass behind the line of scrimmage to Smith-Schuster where all he needed was to let multiple blockers (including Conner, who Bell just ran past) to lead the way.
The problem -- Matt Feiler is engaged in blocking the Bengals DL Kalid Kareem, but Kareem easily sheds the block and makes the tackle on Smith-Schuster to stop the 1st down. While Pittsburgh gained 3 points off the foot of Chris Boswell for 41-yard FG on an exceptionally windy evening, the Steelers were a quick 3 and out on this possession obtained after a turnover.
Outside of a draw play, Conner had little two more very similar sweep attempts in the first half that resulted in -5 and -6 yards respectively. Both plays featured a lead blocker pulling (David DeCastro and Eric Ebron) and both had disruption and confusion. The Steelers spent the majority of the rest of the game spread out and attacking off the arm of Big Ben.
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Dallas Cowboys
3. Didn't Willie Parker run 75 yards with a hole this big?
It's not a stretch to qualify the Cowboys game as a poor performance and an ugly win and they really tried to establish the running game until it became an exercise in futility and put the ball in the hands of Big Ben to win.
Anthony McFarland was considered an exciting pick due to his speed, though he's yet to demonstrate it and doesn't have the full confidence of the coaching staff. Upon examining this 3rd and 1, it's understandable why that perception is held. This was a great play call, and it came down to the execution. McFarland took the carry out of the shotgun with a clear view to pick the hole and show his speed.
Clearly, there was a gaping hole to his left but McFarland went right. Perhaps he thought the Cowboys DL had gotten an angle in his one-on-one with DeCastro, but it's clear that DeCastro was not beaten and McFarland's speed would have easily beaten any play that could have been made. For certain, going right into a mass of bodies for no gain was not the right call and McFarland saw his last action of the day.
4. Who is the Weakest Link?
The ensuring play, the Steelers made their 3rd consecutive attempt to gain 1-yard on the ground for a 1st down. McFarland didn't advance it the previous two plays, so this time Benny Snell was brought in. Unfortunately for Snell, he never had a chance.
Neville Gallimore manhandled Chuckwuma Okorafor and Randy Gregory threw Matt Feiler aside with ease as they converged on Snell who did all he could to turn a loss of two yards into no gain. It's clear that Okorafor and Feiler are having the most difficulty among the starting 5 OL, this play demonstrated it more than any other.
5. "No one, not even Noll's own players understood his decision. But it stemmed from the kicking game." - John Facenda
Debate all you want on this play -- they absolutely should have kicked the FG. But here's the rub, the play called to get the 1st down and just run the clock out was a great play call; though if you would ask the late great John McKay about the team's execution, he'd have answered "I'm all for it." The Steelers have the Cowboys in the formation they want -- bunched up the middle. Reserve tackle Jerald Hawkins is lined up as an eligible receiver at the top of the screen. As the play unfolds, Vance McDonald begins to shift and with precision timing, he's right behind a pulling DeCastro. Conner has two lead blockers along with Chase Claypool at the top of the screen.
It's looking great from Conner's point of view. DeCastro mauls Cowboys Safety Donavon Wilson. Claypool removes CB Anthony Brown from the play with ease. But Randy Gregory beat Hawkins so badly that his steadily declining snap count might stay at 0 for the rest of the year. Still, the real embarrassment of the play was from Vance McDonald who was nearly perfect position to shield Gregory as Conner had the opening, but he not only did not do that, McDonald collided into DeCastro and knocked him down as he proceeded to stumble his way down field until he just fell down on his own around the 5-yard line while Gregory was taking Conner down for a loss.
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens
6. Man I miss Mike Munchak.
This is potentially when it really all started going wrong with the OL. The offense as a whole struggled as the Ravens had the ball for nearly 2/3rds of the 1st half and the offense was limited to 20 plays and Conner 44 yards rushing on 8 attempts. In a 2nd half where Roethlisberger decided to introduce the next generation of Ravens fans to their annual runner-up award -- they didn't go to the run that often, but Conner easily punched in a 1-yard TD to erase the 10-point deficit and take the lead.
But after the Steelers D stuffed the Ravens on downs and needed 1 yard to victory formation the game -- an embarrassing sequence of blocking occurred ensued that it seems like they haven't recovered from.
It starts off looking right. Looking at the top of the screen, Ebron goes in motion and Alejandro Villanueva signals points out the assignment to Ebron as the Baltimore LB approached the line. Ebron and Villanueva then easily complete their blocks.
Villanueva communicates assignments
Conner in trouble before touching the ball
The only possible explanation to what happened next is inexplicable. Matt Feiler must have thought Villanueva's signal meant for his blocking assignment to change as he completely abandoned his gap and was literally began blocking his own teammate in the back. Their couldn't be a bigger opening for LB Patrick Queen to run through and perhaps the most impressive thing of the play is how Conner broke his tackle and continued with his effort. Unfortunately, on the bottom of the screen, Vance McDonald takes head scratching one step further when he left the edge exposed for OLB Pernell McPhee to reach Conner untouched while McDonald went to double DE Derek Wolfe when the line already brought in Jerald Hawkins and 4 men were lined up right of center.
Feiler blocking Villanueva in the back
McDonald realizes his mistake
Feiler realizes his mistake
Whatever Feiler and McDonald were thinking on this play -- it was clearly wrong.
The Steelers can run the Ball:
The fact is the Steelers running game was working for the first 6 weeks of the season as they were averaging 130 yards a game. They didn't struggle to convert short yardage into TDs or victory formations - although in full transparency the Claypool WR sweep was used 6 times - 2x to convert 3rd downs and 2x to score TDs. Conner/Snell combined for 100-yard games in 4/5 games to start the year and Conner outperformed Derrick Henry (82- to 75-yards). More than the 100-yard games and fantasy stats, an 82-yard performance is fits right in the rough order of magnitude for this team to provide balance to the offense; and Conner was the lone productive offensive player vs. Baltimore in the 1st half, running for 43 yards and keeping pace with what the 2020 Steelers need.
Identified Problems:
The last 3 weeks, the Steelers have averaged 46 yards/game - two of which came against very poor run defenses and the weak points have been in Matt Feiler at LG and Chuckwuma Okorafor at RT over these games. It is worth noting that Week 1 injuries to Stefen Wisniewski and Zach Banner have played a significant part in reshuffling the OL -- and Feiler (who spent the last 2 seasons a RT) and Okarafor are learning new positions. The OL as a whole have been getting beaten on the line of scrimmage with blocks easily shedded and often being driven back. This line has not been the overpowering unit that opened gaping holes in the past and both the communication and concentration are out of sync.
What's good and what needs fixing:
The Steelers OL still fields 3 perennial Pro Bowl talents in Maurkice Pouncey, Alejandro Villanueva and David DeCastro. While the run blocking hasn't been as dominant in years past; the pass blocking has been outstanding, 2nd best in the league allowing only 10 sacks. After 10 weeks its become clear that the Steelers are going to ride the arm of Big Ben and he's regaining more of his form each week. However, there is going to be a need to keep defenses honest in an NFL where the defense can't manhandle opposing offenses like they could in 2008, when the running game was even worse. There have been comments of shifting to a zone blocking scheme, which is out of the question. Not only do the Steelers lack the personnel to execute the scheme (dependent on smaller and more athletic lineman) - the idea of changing up the entire system 10 weeks in with practice protocols restrictions is not feasible.
If there is a personnel change, I would suggest inserting rookie Kevin Dotson at G when he clears protocol and shift Feiler back to RT. Okarafor would certainly add more to the current tackle-eligible power formation. Also this would only change 1 position from the lineup that started the last two years. Scheme wise, Randy Fichtner needs to come up with some additional misdirection plays to give the Steelers better matchups as they aren't winning at the point of attack. Its really a matter of sending guys in motion and finding the areas that give the opening. Teams are going to start crowding the line of scrimmage with Ben carving teams up on the short pass, particularly against the zone -- so it's important to keep them honest.
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