During his Thursday press conference ahead of the Indianapolis Colts matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Colts head coach Shane Steichen praised Pittsburgh’s run game, and in particular, the work Pat Meyer has done with the team.
“They do a good job up front. I’ve had some crossover with their offensive line coach, I think he does a heck of a job with those guys,” Steichen said.
He also praised Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris.
“The two backs are really good players. They got good balance, they see the holes, they see the creases, they hit ’em, and they do a good job up front.”
Meyer and Steichen were together in Los Angeles, with Meyer serving as the Chargers’ offensive line coach from 2017-2019, while Steichen was the team’s quarterbacks coach from 2016-19, and was later promoted to offensive coordinator. While Pittsburgh’s run game got off to a slow start each of the past two seasons, Meyer, who is also the de-facto run game coordinator, has gotten the offensive line humming and the ground game has improved in the latter half of the season.
They’re coming off a rough performance against the New England Patriots, with just 82 yards on 29 carries (2.9 yards per carry). Obviously, that’s not good enough, and the Steelers will look to bounce back against the Colts. Indianapolis is 26th against the run this season, allowing an average of 131.7 yards per game. In their last three games, that number has slightly increased to 137.7 yards per game, so it should be a defense that the Steelers can find success on the ground against.
They’re going to need to run well with Mitch Trubisky under center. Trubisky can’t be relied on to do it by himself, and he really struggled against the Patriots in his lone start of the season. Harris and Warren are going to have the carry the load and play the style of football Pittsburgh did from Weeks 9-12, running for 150-plus yards in each contest and not relying too much on its quarterback. They went 3-1 during that stretch, and having success on the ground is going to be a major key if the Steelers want to keep their playoff hopes alive and beat the Colts. Meyer is going to need to get the offensive line ready to thump and open up some holes.
