I was asked by a reader if I had a break down of third downs from last season as it relates to which Pittsburgh Steelers running back was on the field the most. After combing through our charting files from last season, I was able to pull the game by game numbers of the third down snaps by running back and the results are listed in the table below.
Despite missing two games to injury and being banged up to start the season, Isaac Redman saw the most snaps at running back over the course of the season on third downs with 89.
A distant second was Jonathan Dwyer with 58 despite missing three games. Two of those games missed was a result of his fumble in the game against the Oakland Raiders while the other one was due to injury.
It will probably come as a shock to you that Baron Batch only saw 15 less snaps than Dwyer on third downs despite missing four games. Three of those missed games were due to him being on the practice squad.
Over the course of the last eight games of the season, both Redman and Dwyer were active at the same time and presumably healthy. Over that span of games Redman was used 16 more times than Dwyer on third downs.
| PLAYER | Isaac Redman | Jonathan Dwyer | Baron Batch | Chris Rainey | Rashard Mendenhall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEN | 5 | 8 | 5 | 2 | DNP |
| NYJ | 1 | 0 | 10 | 4 | DNP |
| OAK | 2 | 0 | 10 | 3 | DNP |
| PHI | 11 | DNP | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| TEN | 7 | DNP | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| CIN | DNP | 10 | 5 | 1 | DNP |
| WAS | DNP | 3 | 5 | 2 | DNP |
| NYG | 10 | DNP | 0 | 2 | DNP |
| KC | 4 | 13 | 0 | 1 | DNP |
| BAL | 4 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| CLE | 5 | 2 | DNP | 1 | 0 |
| BAL | 12 | 0 | DNP | 0 | DNP |
| SD | 7 | 2 | DNP | 3 | DNP |
| DAL | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | DNP |
| CIN | 11 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| CLE | 7 | 6 | DNP | 0 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 89 | 58 | 43 | 25 | 2 |
