The Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t had a lot of success on the ground in 2023. The team has yet to score a rushing touchdown and has just one win with over 100 rushing yards, coming in a Week Three win over the Las Vegas Raiders. For the Steelers offense to improve, the run game has to improve, and offensive line coach Pat Meyer said that’s a focus for the team.
“We need to get better. There’s no question we need to get better,” Meyer said via audio provided by the Steelers. “We need to continue to work at and look at every little detail and every little aspect of why we’re not running it better. So we’re gonna just continue to do that, continue to grind. We’re going to continue to run the ball, we’re going to continue to run it more and we just need to be more efficient,” he added. “That’s a big focus of us right now.”
The offensive line coach in Pittsburgh traditionally also serves as the unofficial run game coordinator, so Meyer is the guy tasked with trying to come up with solutions. It’s not due to a lack of talent, as both Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris are very capable backs, but there just hasn’t been enough efficiency and consistency in the run game this year.
Warren has looked better than Harris in recent weeks, especially in Pittsburgh’s 17-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens in Week Five. Warren had a season-high nine carries for 40 yards, while Harris had 14 carries for 37 yards. Warren chipped in as a receiver out of the backfield as well, with three receptions for 39 yards.
Harris’s lack of efficiency has been the knock on him throughout his career, but that was supposed to improve this year. The Steelers improved their offensive line on paper, but they haven’t looked all that much better when it comes to run blocking. One big issue has been running schemes and run concepts that haven’t worked or the Steelers aren’t equipped to block well, but when the run game is blocked up well, both Harris and Warren have had success with big runs.
But it hasn’t happened often enough, and it’s something that’s going to have to change after the bye week. After the bye last season, the Steelers looked like a different team running the football, and maybe they can find similar success this season.
They have the ability to be a really good team on the ground, but it’s been a major disappointment this season. Running the ball is going to be a primary focus going forward, and hopefully, the Steelers can find some improvement to help take the burden off of their passing game, which also has mixed results this year.
