For Arthur Smith’s offense to operate at its highest level and to keep Aaron Rodgers healthy for 17 games, the Pittsburgh Steelers need to be able to run the ball. They haven’t done a great job so far, to say the least. Their inability to run cost them in their loss to Seattle and nearly caused them to lose to New York as well. That makes life much more difficult for Aaron Rodgers, specifically.
He recognizes that until Pittsburgh becomes a threat on the ground, it will be much harder to move the ball through the air.
“We gotta run the ball,” Rodgers said after Wednesday’s practice via the team’s YouTube channel. “They play two-high, you gotta run the ball… We gotta run the football against these combo coverages and two-high coverages. So you run the football, you have a chance to have some good play action stuff.”
Pittsburgh got off to a brutal start in Week 1, rushing for just 53 yards. They escaped with a win thanks to Rodgers, who threw four touchdowns on the day. To their credit, they did improve a little against Seattle. The Steelers ran for 72 yards on the ground, and Jaylen Warren impressed. It wasn’t nearly enough, though, and through two games, none of the Steelers’ backs have yet to pick up more than 50 yards in a single game.
The problems start up front. All the investments the Steelers have made in the offensive line have yet to pay off. The unit was just getting bullied last Sunday, and the Steelers aren’t opening up many holes. When rushing for just a couple of yards on first and second down, they’re being forced into passing situations on third and long.
Pittsburgh wants to operate its passing game off play action. But that won’t fool anybody on a 3rd and 9, per se. And even when Aaron Rodgers is simply dropping back, opposing pass rushers are just teeing off on Pittsburgh’s line.
The disappointing start from Kaleb Johnson doesn’t help, either. The Steelers hoped he’d grow as the season went on and take the lead-back role at some point. Yet, he has just two carries for a yard loss across both games. And people are now debating whether he’ll even receive a helmet against New England.
There’s plenty of the season still ahead of us. But against these two-high looks the offense is facing, it’s incredibly hard if you can’t run the ball. Aaron Rodgers will find it much more challenging to beat two deep safeties on third and long when the play-action pass isn’t an option because the ground game isn’t a threat. Until the Steelers can run the ball, the passing game may not look as pretty as it did in Week 1.
