The Pittsburgh Steelers know that Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald is a game-changer, and the team planned to avoid him in the run game in their 24-17 win over Los Angeles today. Running back Najee Harris said in no uncertain terms that the Steelers wanted to avoid Donald.
“Yah, we wanted to run away from that mother**ker,” Harris said via video provided by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
While we’d have to go back through the tape to fully digest and see when the Steelers avoided Donald in the run game and their success rate running opposite him, it certainly felt as if Pittsburgh had more success when running opposite the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Donald finished the day with just four tackles and two quarterback hits.
While the Steelers didn’t excel on the ground, the run game got better as the game got on. Harris ran 14 times for 53 yards, while Jaylen Warren ran six times for 32 yards. Both Harris and Warren had a rushing touchdown, as did QB Kenny Pickett on a sneak. On Harris’ touchdown run, it was clear that Pittsburgh made sure to avoid Donald with just three yards until the end zone.
Pickett praised the Steelers for managing to contain Donald and not let him take over the game, and that was the case in the passing game and in the run game. Donald is a player, who like T.J. Watt, can wreck an opposing game plan in a moment’s notice when he gets going. The Steelers ensured that Donald wouldn’t get going or have the opportunity to make a splash play in any facet of the game.
For the Steelers, the win coming out of the bye week is a positive, as is the offense’s resurgence in the second half. They scored 14 points in the fourth quarter and 21 total in the second half. If the offense can turn around the way it did last year after the bye, the Steelers could become a threat in the second half of the season. It wasn’t pretty, but they did enough late to get the job done.
This team has the talent to be a playoff team, and the win today was a big step toward making that happen. One key reason for the victory was that they didn’t let Donald get involved and take over the game.
Watch the full video below:
