Mostly everyone in the Pittsburgh Steelers locker room would say 'a win's a win' after an upset against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon. It wasn't a pretty 20-18 victory, but the defense stepped up in a big way, even with four members of the secondary out due to injury. There were big plays on offense from both Kenny Pickett an Mitch Trubisky, along with a long-awaited big game from Chase Claypool. It is always great to celebrate on victory Monday, but head coach, Mike Tomlin can't turn a blind eye to an abysmal running game that continues to not produce.
Steelers offensive coordinator, Matt Canada | Credit: Joe Sargent/Getty Images
On Sunday, Pittsburgh's offense had 29 carries that went for just 77 yards. It is a bit deceiving in terms of running backs as only 16 of those rushes came from true ball carriers. The offense is only averaging 3.6 yards per rush this year and without a decent fourth quarter from Najee Harris against the Buccaneers, all hope might have been lost for the rushing attack to become something this season.
It was extremely hard to watch on Sunday and has been consistently when the team's punt returner has been on the offensive field this season. The end-around to Steven Sims on Sunday was snuffed out and led to a 5-yard loss. The same thing seemed to happen the majority of the time when Gunner Olszewski got offensive snaps. Offensive coordinator, Matt Canada doesn't seem to be fooling NFL defenses with almost all of his schemes.
Center, Mason Cole spoke to media after the team's 38-3 Week 5 loss against the Buffalo Bills about the run game and acknowledged the offense as a whole needs to do better implementing an effective ground game.
"I think we had our chances trying to run the ball. With our reads and execution, assignments, we just just weren't good, weren't good enough to get Najee [Harris] going early in the game. Thoughts of running the ball go out the window [when you go down three scores]."
Pittsburgh Steelers center, Mason Cole (#61) prepares to snap the football to quarterback, Mitch Trubisky (#10) during a preseason game against the Detroit Lions at Acrisure Stadium. | Jordan Schofield / SteelerNation (Twitter: @JSKO_PHOTO)
Harris told the media a week ago that he had a steel plate removed from his shoe after suffering a Lisfranc injury in training camp. The plate prohibited him from doing certain things and he expected his versatility to change against Tampa.
"It kind of prohibits me from doing certain things. But I just took it out yesterday, two days ago. It’s gotten a lot better," Harris said.
The run game absolutely needs to improve if the Steelers want any chance of being competitive into December and January. Tomlin, who did not seem overly pleased in his postgame press conference even after the win versus the Buccaneers, said that his team is far from where he wants it to be.
"Where we are is more than one good day, one good plan, one good winning performance in terms of working our way back to respectability and so we are appreciative of the day, but we still understand exactly where we are and we ain’t running away from it.""We’re going to continue to run to it and get better and prepare for our next opportunity."
Steelers' Najee Harris gets ready for a tough battle against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Pittsburgh, PA. | Credit: Abigail Dean/Pittsburgh Steelers
All phases of the game can improve, but it needs to start with Canada's offensive run schemes and getting Harris back to his rookie season form. The starting ball carrier has the second worst yards per carry out of any Steelers player with two or more carries. The lead back should be the workhorse who is at least picking up 4 yards per rush, yet Harris is at 3.2 after six weeks.
The offense is on pace to have an even worse rushing attack than last year. The offensive line isn't the league's best, but many of the run designs have been piss-poor and Harris has consistently missed open running lanes. It should be at the top of to do list as they plan to take on a borderline top 10 run defense in the Miami Dolphins in Week 7.
How much does the Steelers underwhelming run game worry you almost halfway through the season? Let us know in the comments below!
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