The last time the Pittsburgh Steelers were on the field, they ran for a season-high 131 yards against a tough Minnesota Vikings defense, doing so without the services of starting running back Jaylen Warren.
Now, they return home after a Week 5 bye week to take on a familiar opponent in the Cleveland Browns under defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. Pittsburgh will have the services of Warren once again, but there’s one thing the Steelers must possess to be successful in the run game at Acrisure Stadium.
For Mike Tomlin, it’s simple. The Steelers must have a finisher’s attitude.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday ahead of the AFC North opener for the Steelers, Tomlin highlighted the key for the Black and Gold in the run game against a stout Cleveland defense.
“Well, we better block ’em. We better run hard. We better finish off runs. We better have a finisher’s attitude in terms of which direction the pile falls,” Tomlin said of the run game, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “As you mentioned, they’re elite in terms of run stopping. And so what does that mean? That means that we gotta be solid. We can’t have unblocked people. But beyond that, we gotta play well as a collective. We gotta play physical and we gotta finish.
“And we gotta understand that a successful day might be three and four yard runs at times,” Tomlin added. “And we gotta take what we can get sometimes from that regard.”
Heading into Sunday’s Week 6 matchup, the Browns have the NFL’s stingiest run defense. Cleveland is allowing just 75.6 yards per game on the ground, nearly a full 2 yards less than the Green Bay Packers at No. 2 from a run defense standpoint.
Cleveland isn’t allowing much defensively in general, sitting at No. 2 in the NFL in yards allowed per game at just 247.8, behind only the Atlanta Falcons.
Offensively, Pittsburgh did have a great deal of success against the Vikings, rushing for those 131 yards and generating a successful run rate of 57.7%. But on the year, the Steelers are next to last in rush yards per game at just 80.0, ahead of only the Cincinnati Bengals.
Not great company to be in. But the Steelers showed real growth in Dublin from the young offensive line, getting after the Vikings in a big way physically. The group played with confidence and got its swagger back overseas and should be building on the momentum gained in Dublin.
It’s a tough task ahead against the Browns, but the Steelers need to show that the performance against the Vikings wasn’t a one-off. It starts against a divisional rival in Week 6. Have the right mentality, and it could make for a long day for Cleveland.
