Last week, George Pickens said that the “dam is already kind of breaking,” and that he thought Pittsburgh’s offense was due for a breakout. On Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers, the Steelers put up their best offensive performance of the season with two touchdowns, and they beat the Chargers, 20-10. Pickens said today that he was talking about the running game when he mentioned the dam breaking, and that opened up explosive plays for the offense.
“The running game, that’s really what I meant by when I said that. When the dam broke, there wasn’t very much they could do and then that opened up explosive plays for [Calvin Austin III] and Scotty [Miller],” Pickens said via Aaron Becker of Yardbarker on Twitter.
Pittsburgh ran for just nine yards in the first half, but the ground game got going in the fourth quarter against a tired Chargers defense. That’s when QB Justin Fields was able to hit WR Calvin Austin III for a 55-yard touchdown. Even with the run game not clicking in the first half, the Steelers still wore down the Chargers. That opened up the passing game, leading to Fields having his best game of the season. He threw for 245 yards and a touchdown in the win and had explosive plays on passes to Pickens, Austin and Miller.
Najee Harris finished with 70 yards on 18 carries while Cordarelle Patterson had four carries for 33 yards on Sunday.
The Steelers have worked to establish the run early in the season, and it’s been one of the calling cards of this offense. They haven’t had a lot of negative plays, and being able to stay on schedule has allowed the offense to chew clock and keep their own defense off the field. If Pittsburgh can continue to have success on the ground, then more opportunities will come for explosive plays and shots downfield.
Pittsburgh took some shots in the first two weeks but had two explosive plays called back due to penalties. With Fields getting more comfortable in the offense each week, it’s fair to expect the Steelers to continue to look to throw downfield. The run game working also opens up more of the play-action passing attack, and if the Steelers can continue to wear teams down, they’ll be able to have more success through the air.
The threat of Fields using his legs also has benefitted the offense, and he’s done a good job knowing when to run and when to throw. His comfort level growing combined with the ground game continuing to be a factor each week should allow Pittsburgh’s offense to continually improve throughout the season.
