A clear emphasis was placed on improving the running game in 2023 for the Pittsburgh Steelers, as evidenced by the signings of guards Isaac Seumalo and Nate Herbig, and the drafting of left tackle Broderick Jones.
The Steelers certainly got better along the offensive line, but will the run game overall with running backs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren under offensive coordinator Matt Canada truly be better? That is the concern of former NFL GM Randy Mueller, who now writes for The Athletic.
In a piece for The Athletic Wednesday morning highlighting top concerns for all four teams in the AFC North, Mueller is worried that the run game in Pittsburgh will be more horizontal in fashion, rather than downhill and punishing based on the way the offensive line is built.
“The Steelers just have not run the ball well enough, though. They ran 500 times in 2022, but the average gain per run play was 4.1 yards, 25th in the league. They need to improve in this area to help the development of young quarterback Kenny Pickett,” Mueller writes for The Athletic. “My worry is that the run game will continue to work in a horizontal fashion and not in a downhill, vertical style like Mike Tomlin would prefer. They need to use the newly acquired mass to lean on people up front.”
Early on in the 2022 season, the run game simply wasn’t good enough. Harris, who was dealing with a foot injury, was too often caught behind the line of scrimmage being too patient and dancing, trying to avoid contract, rather than leaning into his massive 235-pound build and punishing defenders downhill.
Warren provided some of that, though he wasn’t given a ton of work overall behind Harris in the run game.
Then, the second half of the season happened. Pittsburgh went from one of the worst rushing attacks in football to the No. 7 rushing offense in football in the second half of the season
After the Week 9 bye, the Steelers averaged 141.8 rushing yards per game on the ground, a significant increase from the early-season struggles in the run game for Pittsburgh, which needed a new-look offensive line to gel under first-year position coach Pat Meyer.
After struggling with a foot injury early in the 2022 season, Harris got healthy down the stretch and played much better. He played a key role in Pittsburgh’s rushing attack ranking No. 7 in the NFL in the second half of the season.
In the second half of the season, Harris had five games with 4.5 or more yards per carry, including three of 5.0 or more. The rushing attack really took over in the second half of the season, and Harris looked like the first-round back he was expected to be. Pittsburgh only got better around him with the additions of Seumalo and Jones, two guys who excel as run blockers and bring a nastiness in that area.
A key to Harris’ success was that he would just put his head down and barrel forward, punishing defenders in the process. He really leaned on his size and worked downhill, rather than searching for that homerun-style run seemingly every single time.
Pittsburgh found what worked in the second half of last season. No reason to move away from it.
