The Pittsburgh Steelers are expected to run a lot of no-huddle offense this season as they showed last season that they can be effective when using it. While quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was successful passing the ball while using that up-tempo pace last season, we recently highlighted how well the team ran the football out of the no-huddle in 2013.
With Mike Munchak now on board as the Steelers new offensive line coach, he believes that run success will continue in 2014 when the offense uses the no-huddle.
“The way we run the no-huddle, we’ll be able to run the ball from it,” Munchak recently told Jim Corbett of USA TODAY Sports. “There are bigger lanes and fewer guys to block.”
In addition to running the ball out of the no-huddle in 2014, the team is also expected to run more outside zone this season as Munchak is a master of teaching it effectively. Not only that, second-year running back Le’Veon Bell is used to running behind that type of blocking scheme as well.
“I’m definitely excited to have coach Munchak working with our offensive line,” said Bell. “We ran a lot of outside zone at Michigan State, even though it’s a little different style here.”
Bell, as we noted in an earlier post, dropped some weight during the offseason with the hope that he will be quicker and more elusive than he was during his rookie season. However, even though he will be the Steelers primary ball carrier this season, Munchak knows the team will need the services of all three of their running backs and that includes their speedy third-round draft pick Dri Archer.
“When you’re playing in December and January, and you have two bigger backs like Le’Veon and LeGarrette Blount, and then you have Dri Archer as your change-up, he’s a scary guy with the speed of a C.J. [Chris Johnson] who can do a lot of things for us,” Munchak said. “As a line coach, to have a stable of backs like this is very exciting.”
Munchak has also inherited a fairly young, yet underachieving, offensive line group in Pittsburgh that includes four players that the Steelers invested earlier round draft picks in dating back to 2010.
“The offensive line is a young, fun group. They’re obviously talented, and they’re all coming together at the same time,” he said.
