The Pittsburgh Steelers are now 7-6, thankfully coming off a divisional win against the Baltimore Ravens. There were certainly encouraging developments in that game. But one element that left more to be desired was the run game.

Looking with a broad lens, Pittsburgh had just 34 rushing yards, their least in a victory against Baltimore for quite some time. Yes, offenses should avoid running into a brick wall against stout run defenses. Pittsburgh was quite shy in their willingness to stick with the run, with just 17 attempts (second-least in 2025), despite the Ravens being a middling run defense in several stats on the year.

This got me wondering what the Steelers rushing success has been this season, and how their frequency compares to the rest of the league.

Here is a visual to measure the quality of teams rushing attacks in 2025. Included is Expected Points Added (EPA) per play and rushing success rates:

In both respected stats, the Pittsburgh Steelers run game has been an above average unit in 2025. In fact, they are a top 10 in each through Week 14. This may come as a surprise, considering the lack of attempts and general stat production, particularly the past couple games.

Pittsburgh’s Rush EPA ranks ninth (-0.025), and 43 percent success rate comes in at 10th. These stats measure more than attempts and rush yards, obviously. In the Ravens game for example, the Steelers were able to punch in two rushing touchdowns, including one from healthier looking QB in Aaron Rodgers.

This confirms some of the feelings I had going into the study, that it’s more of a quantity issue rather than quality. Every rushing attack gets stuffed or suffers negative plays. The Steelers are no exception.

But for a team that went into the season preaching a plan to lean into the running game, it’s quite discouraging they sit at 27th in rushing attempts to date. Many factors can play into this. Playing from behind is an example, though it’s not like Pittsburgh has had to the majority of 2025. Definitely not to the extremely low attempts they’ve chose to run.

Important context is the Steelers offense has the least plays of any team in the NFL, which of course limits opportunities. That total is 718, with Pittsburgh ranking 22nd in pass attempts (396), compared to 27th in rush attempts (300). So it’s clear that Pittsburgh could lean into the run more, especially seeing their above average quality in the league to date.

The Steelers offensive line is also trending in the right direction, really starting to gel as a pass blocking unit and seeing some stellar individual performances in run blocking. Their progression will hopefully continue and really come together more consistently on the ground.

The best offenses are able to attack on the ground and through the air. We saw the latter (finally) from Pittsburgh last game, and would love to see the Steelers pair leaning into their run game more, giving defenses more to worry about to close out 2025.

What better time if this was to occur, with the last four games on the horizon? In case you forgot, this was the point of the 2024 season that completely derailed for the Steelers. No person who bleeds Black and Gold wants anything close to that experience again. A more successful and leaned-into run game could bode well to hopefully closing out 2025 strong and change their lack of success in the playoff for far too long.

Run the football.