There’s been a lot of talk so far this offseason about how the Pittsburgh Steelers offense will likely be using more no-huddle this season, but all of that talk has been centered around the passing game. While it’s true that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger thrived last season in the no-huddle, the Steelers running game was equally impressive.
According to our charting project last season, the Steelers offense ran the ball a total of 72 times out of the no-huddle in 2013 and that includes one busted play in which Roethlisberger had to keep the ball for no gain. Those 72 plays resulted in a 4.60 yards per carry average.
To give that number some perspective, the other 310 non kneel down rushes produced a paltry 3.43 yards per carry average, according to our charting.
One interesting thing to point out is that three of those 72 runs went for 20 yards or more and the Steelers only had seven such runs all season. Five of those 72 runs, however, went for negative yardage and all five were carries by then-rookie running back Le’Veon Bell.
Here is a breakdown of the no-huddle rushing stats by player.
| PLAYER | ATT | YDS | YPC | LNG | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Le’Veon Bell | 60 | 255 | 4.25 | 43 | 1 |
| Jonathan Dwyer | 4 | 47 | 11.75 | 30 | 0 |
| Felix Jones | 6 | 24 | 4.00 | 24 | 0 |
| Isaac Redman | 1 | 5 | 5.00 | 5 | 0 |
| Totals | 71 | 331 | 4.66 | 43 | 1 |
Here is another interesting stat for you. 27 of those 72 plays were out of the shotgun and those runs produced a 5.78 yards per carry average with only one of them going for negative yardage.
When you look at the overall success that the Steelers offense had last season both passing and running out of the no-huddle. it’s easy to see why there’s been so much focus this offseason on getting the new players up to speed on it.
By our count, the Steelers ran 240 plays out of the no-huddle in 2013 and that works out to 23.5% of all offensive plays run. Will we see a higher percentage in 2014? It’s possible.
