The Pittsburgh Steelers will finally play a home game this weekend as they welcome the Los Angeles Chargers to town. Both teams are 2-0, and each plays a similar style of football. Just like the Steelers, Los Angeles loves to run the ball. They’ve got a strong rushing attack spearheaded by Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins.
Those two have split carries through the first two games of the season. The Steelers are familiar with these backs, as both left the Baltimore Ravens for the Chargers this offseason.
Baltimore’s backfield has been riddled with injuries over the past few years, and both Edwards and Dobbins fell victim to that. They’ve found new roles with the Chargers, though, and have had some nice moments. Their head coach, Jim Harbaugh, loves to establish a good run game, and the two backs have benefited as a result.
Due to their time in Baltimore, the Steelers have come to know each of these players pretty well. Steelers’ cornerback Joey Porter Jr. spoke about his defense’s familiarity with them during the team’s media availability on Wednesday.
“They’re two familiar backs that we’ve seen in the past, from them being with Baltimore,” Porter said. “So we just gotta get after them. We know their tendencies, we know their weaknesses, so I mean, it’s football at the end of the day. We just gotta get after them.”
The Steelers know these two pretty well, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be easy to stop either of them. Dobbins has had an incredible bounce-back season so far, recording 266 rushing yards on his 27 attempts, good enough for an astonishing 9.9 yards per carry. Dobbins leads the NFL in both rushing yards and yards per carry. His lead in the latter stat is massive. The next highest running back, Antonio Gibson, averages 6.3 yards per attempt, over three yards fewer than Dobbins.
Now, Dobbins’ stats are slightly inflated due to two long runs. He broke off a 61-yarder in Week 1 against the Las Vegas Raiders and took one 43 yards against the Carolina Panthers in Week 2. Still, after missing a bit of time with a series of injuries in recent years, he’s bounced back quite nicely.
Gus Edwards has got more carries than Dobbins, with 29. He hasn’t done quite as much with them, picking up 85 yards on just 2.9 yards per carry. Despite his lack of efficiency, he’s got the most carries on the team, so it’s clear he’s earning the trust of the offense.
The Chargers are going to try to establish the run early. Their rushing attack has worn down their opponents, helping them to a 2-0 record. With Justin Herbert battling an ankle injury, this week’s game plan should be very similar. Porter sounds confident, and to his point, the Steelers should be very familiar with both Edwards and Dobbins.
They hope familiarity can help them slow the Chargers’ rushing attack this week. It could help the Steelers grab their third win out of three if they can.
