Will the Steelers lean on the run game after last week\u2019s struggles without DK Metcalf?<\/p>\n
The Steelers are playing for the division title, and they are without by far their top receiver; will they run the ball instead? That\u2019s what they supposedly designed the offense to do all year long, and they have Isaac Seumalo back. Broderick Jones is out, of course, and now they\u2019ve also lost Darnell Washington, which significantly complicates the run game, too.<\/p>\n
The Ravens\u2019 run defense is\u2014solid, not exceptional, certainly not something the Steelers should fear. They have allowed 1,713 yards on 410 attempts, averaging 4.2 yards per carry with 16 touchdowns. Most of those number rank near the top 10, either just inside or just outside.<\/p>\n
Then again, most of the Steelers\u2019 better efforts in the run game came against run defenses ranked toward the bottom. The Bengals and Bears, for example, or the Dolphins and Lions. But this is a team that claims to want to run the ball, and to be able to run the ball even when the defense knows you\u2019re going to run it.<\/p>\n
And based on last week\u2019s performance, the Steelers should probably want to lean on the run game. Aaron Rodgers had little rapport with his receivers, especially Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Despite their history together, they went 3-for-9 against the Browns, replete with miscommunications.<\/p>\n
As for the Steelers, their run game by the numbers has not been very impressive at all this year. That\u2019s partly because they have the sixth-fewest rushing attempts in the NFL, translating to the seventh-fewest yards. But they rank 19th in rushing touchdowns and 16th in yards per carry. Considering they get little yardage from running quarterbacks, that\u2019s not too shabby at 4.3 yards per clip.<\/p>\n
This season, Jaylen Warren has rushed for 892 yards on 197 attempts, or 4.5 yards per carry. Kenneth Gainwell has 527 yards on 109 attempts, or 4.8 yards per carry. That is, of course, the core of the Steelers\u2019 standard run game, so when their actual running backs are running the ball, things have tended to work out fairly well. Between the two, they also have about a 55-percent run success rate. But can they ride the run game to success on Sunday\u2014and to a division title?<\/p>\n
After another disappointing season and months of retooling, the Steelers are set to try it all again in 2025. Though they limped into the playoffs, they once again embarrassed themselves therein.<\/p>\n
Just like last year, the biggest question hanging over the Steelers is the quarterback question<\/a>. They settled in on Aaron Rodgers, but we still have a lot to learn about him. The 2025 NFL Draft class<\/a> could play a big role, but veteran additions like Jalen Ramsey will be paramount.<\/p>\n Now we are in the regular season. From Rodgers to George Pickens to Minkah Fitzpatrick and Ramsey, we\u2019ve seen the Steelers make some big changes. Now it\u2019s about evaluating the roster in place and figuring out how it all works out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Will the Steelers lean on the run game after last week\u2019s struggles without DK Metcalf? The Steelers are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2055],"tags":[2870,7,6,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-650448","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-dk-metcalf","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-pittsburgh","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","13":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","14":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115830726973633400","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}