Throughout Sunday’s 23-19 win over the Green Bay Packers at Acrisure Stadium, the Pittsburgh Steelers did one thing very consistent: they ran the football at an impressive clip.
In improving to 6-3, the Steelers eclipsed the 200-yard mark for the first time since Week 10 of last season against the New Orleans Saints, churning out 205 yards and two touchdowns against the Packers, dominating from start to finish in the trenches.
Second-year running back Jaylen Warren had a career day, rushing for 101 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, eclipsing the 100-yard mark for the first time in his career Third-year running back Najee Harris had great success too, rushing for 82 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries.
“I’ll say this: This was the best the Steelers’ run game has looked, at least results-wise, in a long, long time,” Steve Palazzolo stated on the Pro Football Focus Week 10 review show Monday morning, according to video via the PFF YouTube page. “Nuance here: I think there was some really well, individually blocked plays by Pittsburgh, and I also thought this was really bad run by Green Bay as I was grinding the film. The run fits and the run defense was not great.
“But Jaylen Warren continues to add a spark to this offense, a little explosiveness in some of his shifty runs with acceleration. …I think Pittsburgh’s run game was really good.”
Calling Pittsburgh’s run game against the Packers “really good” seems like a bit of an understatement. The Steelers averaged an absurd 5.7 yards per carry and had six runs of 10-plus yards. The run game was consistent, moved the chains and even picked up yards in real bunches throughout the afternoon.
The Steelers showed signs of playing the type of football they wanted to in Week Nine against the Tennessee Titans on a short week, running the football with authority and controlling the line of scrimmage. That only continued in Week 10 against the Packers.
There were some major rushing lanes available for Warren and Harris throughout the day as the Steelers blocked things up well at times against a defense that was top 10 in run defense entering the game. It certainly didn’t look the part against the Steelers, though that might be more of a credit to Pittsburgh than a knock against the Packers right now, based on the way things looked.
Pittsburgh got rolling on the ground early and never looked back. Running consistently behind right guard James Daniels and right tackle Broderick Jones, the Steelers set the tone early, never really getting away from it overall.
The offensive line deserves a ton of credit for the showing on the ground, as do Warren and Harris. It’s a tremendous 1-2 punch, one that makes the Steelers a bit dangerous down the stretch if they can continue to play smash-mouth football.
