One of the biggest chores that the Pittsburgh Steelers defense will have this coming Sunday against the Oakland Raiders will be stopping the run. Not only will they have to focus on shutting down running backs Darren McFadden and Rashad Jennings, they will have quarterback Terrelle Pryor to worry about as well.
Pryor leads the Raiders in rushing this season with 285 yards on 44 attempts/scrambles and he’s not afraid to tuck it run should he be forced outside the pocket.
After struggling to spy quarterbacks during the meaningless preseason, the Steelers defense has rebounded during the regular season when it comes to keeping quarterbacks contained. Through their first six games, the defense has allowed just 41 yards on 13 quarterback runs/scrambles and that ranks them near the bottom of the league in that statistic.
What’s interesting about Pryor is the fact that he only has six runs/scrambles on third downs so far this season. The rest have happened on first and second downs, as the young quarterback appears willing to try and make plays with his arm on the money down.
Speaking of the money down, Pryor is 31-of-48 passing this year on third downs and 21 of those were good for conversions. That’s a 43.8% conversion rate if you are scoring at home.
