The Pittsburgh Steelers have only called about a dozen and a half designed runs to start the 2023 season, of which 16 have been from the running backs. While they haven’t been very successful running the ball so far, one does have to question the effect of the sample size. Have we seen enough to properly evaluate beyond the execution of those specific plays?
At least for former Steelers DL Chris Hoke, who is now an analyst, he has seen enough from the style of blocking employed by the offensive line to know that it’s not what they need to be doing for their starting running back to have success.
“If you watch these guys, it’s a running play and they’re going backwards. They’re position blocking and they’re taking steps back instead of steps forward”, he told Ron Cook and Joe Starkey on 93.7 The Fan, also noting the lack of execution in blocking from the tight end position, particularly from Pat Freiermuth. “To me, it’s kind of a passive-aggressive approach, and that does not fit the running style of Najee Harris”.
Now, through two games, Harris’ numbers actually look better than Jaylen Warren’s. He has 74 rushing yards on 16 carries, of which 37 came on his final two touches on Monday night that featured him improvising. He’s averaging 4.6 yards per attempt while Warren at 26 yards on nine attempts is averaging 2.9. Their overall success rate is similar, however, south of 40 percent.
“I believe you’ve got to line up and you’ve got to knock people off the ball. You’ve got to be physical”, Hoke said, describing the style of blocking their primary back needs. “The type of running back that Najee Harris is, you’ve got to come off and you’ve got to fire off the ball”.
A position block’s goal is simply to put the body of the blocker between his assigned defender and the ball carrier. It’s a more passive approach, as Hoke mentioned, where you’re basically just getting in the defender’s way rather than driving him back.
Although we haven’t seen a lot of short-yardage runs so far, let alone goal-line runs, we did see how this technique failed during the preseason against the Buffalo Bills, for example. We will have to see what they do in the regular season if they ever manage to get into a goal-line situation again. Still, Hoke maintains that style is not what Harris needs.
“He’s not the kind of guy where you take a step back and you absorb the defenders and he’s able to find his way through. That’s not him. That’s a Le’Veon Bell kind of running back”, he said. ”This kind of blocking style right now that they’re employing, it’s not conducive to success for Najee Harris, because he needs some room to get up speed and momentum and power, and it’s not happening right now”.
The thing is, not much has changed in terms of his yards per carry. That was consistent in both the first and second halves of last season, hovering not far above two yards. This year, it’s a bit down at 1.6, but we’ll have to see what a larger sample size looks like.
