Tim Benz: Steelers’ run game must seize on rare chance for positive reinforcement
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When it comes to the run game, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense has finally stumbled into something it can use.
Positive reinforcement.
Through most of the first seven games of the season, when examining tape, Steelers coaches and players could only walk away from what they witnessed and say, “We’re not sure what it’s supposed to look like, but it’s sure not supposed to look like that!”
The Steelers offense is currently averaging just 3.7 yards per rush attempt. That’s 27th in the NFL. But the unit is coming off its best game of the season running the football. The club totaled a season-high 166 yards on 30 carries, good for 5.5 yards per attempt during a 20-16 win against the Tennessee Titans.
“It was good to move the ball,” running back Jaylen Warren said after the game. “Whatever it took. It was a good feeling.”
Warren had 88 yards rushing. Najee Harris had 69. And they both got there with some splash. Harris had a long run of 25 yards on the day. Warren’s longest rush was 22 yards, plus he had three other runs longer than 10 yards.
Guard Isaac Seumalo said it was nice to get the timing down between the offensive line and the running backs to allow those big runs to transpire. It was a rare night where there were frequent mesh points between the offensive line creating holes and the backs hitting the holes at the right time.
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“We had a lot of explosive runs,” Seumalo said. “The running backs ran hard. Big shoutout to the tight ends. They blocked their butts off. It was good to see.”
It was also probably the best game so far regarding Harris and Warren working as complementary backs for one another. In other words, it was a game where both seemed to be having a good night at the same time, as opposed to just hoping one could finally get loose for the better part of 60 minutes.
“Really, (Thursday) was probably our first time to take a look (the 1-2 punch) because we had a more fluid start,” coach Mike Tomlin said after the victory.
Tomlin was referencing the game’s first offensive drive of the night, which resulted in a Harris touchdown.
Najee up the middle for an opening drive @steelers TD!#TENvsPIT on Prime Video
Also available on #NFLPlus https://t.co/SEBKoOkzMq pic.twitter.com/07eUlBFrbT— NFL (@NFL) November 3, 2023
Prior to that score, the New York Jets were the only other team besides the Steelers who had failed to score on their opening drive of every game so far this season.
“You convert possession downs, you get more snaps,” Tomlin said. “I think we converted our first third down of the game. I don’t know how many of those we’ve had. When you are converting third downs, you get more snap opportunities. That usually leads to the attrition component of play, and really, that’s kind of representative of the run game.”
But Seumalo may have made the most important point when discussing the ground attack versus Tennessee. It was 30 carries on tape to look at and see multiple times when things went right. Instead of constantly looking at film and seeing where things didn’t work, at least now the offense has evidence that things can work on the ground and building blocks from which to add on and replicate against future opponents.
Things actually coalesced on the field instead of just talking about them in theory.
“It’s taken some time,” Seumalo said. “But we (can) really dig into why it was good. Why things weren’t good. Perfection is never going to happen. But the pursuit of perfection on every play is the goal.”
Seumalo added that it helps to have had this encouraging result on a Thursday night so that the team had extra time over the long weekend to dive deep into the film to see the nuances of how the pieces aligned.
“If we want to be great, we have to continually climb the mountain one rung at a time,” Seumalo said.
If they keep climbing it 5.5 yards at a time, they may actually reach the top with a run game that’s in rhythm just in time for the playoffs.