The Steelers are now back at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, facing down a long regular season that looks a lot more promising given how things have gone leading up to it. Finishing just above .500 last year, they anticipate being able to compete with any team in the league this season with second-year QB Kenny Pickett leading the way.
They’ve done a great deal to address what they identified as their shortcomings during the offseason, which included addressing the offensive and defensive lines as well as the secondary and the inside linebacker room, which is nearly entirely different from last year. The results have been positive so far.
Even well into the regular season and beyond, there are going to be plenty of questions that need answered. When will the core rookies get to play, or even start? Is the depth sufficient where they upgraded? Can they stand toe-to-toe with the Bengals and the other top teams in the league? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout the season, as we have for many years.
Question: Have the Steelers figured out the run game again?
One of the major driving factors of last season’s second-half success was a start improvement in the run game. The Steelers went from averaging 94.9 rushing yards per game in the first half of the year to 162, which, needless to say, is dramatically better. They also ran more efficiently and scored on the ground nearly three times as often.
Yet even with their big game on Thursday, the Steelers on the season have just 724 rushing yards, of which 166 came in their last outing. They were averaging just 80 yards per game through the first seven games, so they more than doubled that against the Tennessee Titans, and raised their season-long per-game average by 20 yards per game in a week.
The question is, did they stumble upon their answer in the run game for the season, a formula that they can replicate on a weekly basis? Or was this just one good game against an overwhelmed opponent at home on a short week?
That’s the question we’ll have to find out. Head coach Mike Tomlin said after the game that he felt it was the first real look that they were able to get at the one-two punch of Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren, and that that was largely driven by earlier struggles to keep drives alive.
Yet against the Titans, the Steelers had four possessions of 10-plus plays and just three three-and-outs. They picked up five-plus first downs on four separate occasions with 22 for the game, which is pretty remarkable considering they averaged under 15 per game through the first seven.
Needless to say, if the Steelers can keep running as they did on Thursday, that’s a big deal. The offensive line had its best game, and Broderick Jones was a positive contributor to that, but we don’t even know if he is going to stay in the lineup. Time will tell.
