NFL Analyst Brian Baldinger is known for his Baldy’s Breakdowns that he posts on X highlighting key aspects from recent game film. The subject matter of his latest video on the Pittsburgh Steelers will have fans nodding their heads in agreement. He would like to see more power running in Pittsburgh.
“What I like about how the Steelers are running the ball is they’re running it with power,” Baldinger said in a breakdown posted on X. “Najee [Harris] is benefiting from it. Like this goes back to Chuck Noll’s days. Just the inside trap…this is how they gotta run the ball.”
On the play that Baldinger breaks down, RT Broderick Jones and TE Darnell Washington make great blocks on the play side and LG Isaac Seumalo pulls across the line to lead block for Harris. According to Pro Football Focus, the Steelers ran 16 power-running plays to 12 zone-running plays. Baldinger shows two more plays in the clip, one another inside trap, but going the other direction with RG James Daniels pulling. The final play was a tackle trap with a counter step from Harris to set up LT Dan Moore Jr.’s block pulling across.
The Steelers gained 113 yards on 30 carries, which isn’t the most efficient of days, but they were able to move the chains and possess the ball against the Bengals. After getting run on for 13-straight plays in a Dec. 16 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, the Steelers gave their own version of that to the Bengals. On the Steelers’ second-to-last drive that ended in a field goal, they ran the ball on seven straight plays. They picked up two first downs and consumed 5:29 of the clock to help put the game away. It was pretty obvious that the Steelers were going to run the ball during the drive, but they were still able to with success.
“They gotta keep running it with power just like that,” Baldinger continued. “Maybe they can run themselves to the playoffs.”
The playoff path is still narrow, but if the Steelers win out in their final two games against the Seattle Seahawks and the Baltimore Ravens, they will have a very good shot at qualifying for postseason play. If they can continue to execute the power-running offense like this, they should have a competitive chance to do so.
