View topic - I Doubt this "Running Game" is Going to Show Up

[No l Gravity l Profile]

I don't know why everyone is thinking that we had a running game in our Superbowl year. Arians was right with Ben winning it for us on offense (minus the actual Superbowl game). Look at the stats here...

Parker's four playoff games (all SB year):
Cincinnati - 16 carries for 38 yds
Indianapolis - 17 for 59
Denver - 14 for 35
Seattle - 10-93 (9-18 minus 75yd run)

So, the past 5 playoff games the run game has sucked. Parker has basically had one long run in 4 playoff games. And those were years the run game was 'supposedly' good.

[El Nino Profile]

start mewelde moore, he seems to have success against the tougher defenses faced this year.

not to mention if the pass is going to be more prevalent, he's much more of a receiving threat than parker

[shawnlucas Profile]

2005 regular season

2223 rushing yards
2385 passing yards

2008 regular season

1690 rushing yards
3301 passing yards

That is on offense. Because of the smothering defense this year, the team could overlook some of the imbalance on offense and still win one more game than in 2005. Nevertheless, the balance between the running and passing game in the regular season meant that teams needed to respect both the running and the passing aspects of the offense allowing an unbalanced attack to work in the playoffs because it was a surprise. Since the offense is so biased towards the pass this year, the unbalanced pass attack is not as much of a surprise and teams can gameplan for it and potentially stop it easier.

Now, much of football is situation and surely anything can happen and Arians may ultimately be proven a genius due to his comments dismissing the fact that the Steelers don't need balance on offense. However, I (and others arguing the point) tend to disagree. I guess we shall see.

[WoodsonOfSteel Profile]

Which one of you stat whores are going to go through the season and break down the Steelers' run stats vs. winning teams against losing teams?

My money says... Total yards AND yards per carry are noticeably higher in games against teams with losing records.

Who is up for the challenge?

[jstallworth82 Profile]

Which one of you stat whores are going to go through the season and break down the Steelers' run stats vs. winning teams against losing teams?

My money says... Total yards AND yards per carry are noticeably higher in games against teams with losing records.

Who is up for the challenge?

I'd be willing to bet that 99% of all teams have the same trend. You do not run against strong run Ds as well on a consistant basis as you do against teams that are not good against the run.

That would be the same as bringing up the passing stats for both.......oooops I'm sorry Ben can't pass against any team.

So those stats as well as many others are useless expecially in the Playoffs. Every game is different and should be game planned that way but our problem starts with the Offensive Line. go back and look at the stats of their performance and I bet you will find when they play better the Offense is better.

[Hagerstown Steelman Profile]

True, you are not going to run consistently on a top defense like us, balt, tenn, etc.

However, our run game has had some crappy days against the likes of Indy.

One thing to remember the last time we played SD Ben threw for over 300 plus we had 125 on the ground. The Bolts do not have an intimidating defense this year and ranked near the bottom against the pass. In divisional round playoff game we don't have to have a ton of rush yards. However, the backs need to be involved. If we can not run we have to get them involved in screens and the short passing game to keep SD's defese honest.

[Nel Profile]

The running game will arrive with the adrenaline borne by a home playoff game, IMO. I am not worried about that. My concerns are turnovers, punting and penalties.

[GodfatherofSoul Profile]

I don't know why everyone is thinking that we had a running game in our Superbowl year. Arians was right with Ben winning it for us on offense (minus the actual Superbowl game). Look at the stats here...

Parker's four playoff games (all SB year):
Cincinnati - 16 carries for 38 yds
Indianapolis - 17 for 59
Denver - 14 for 35
Seattle - 10-93 (9-18 minus 75yd run)

So, the past 5 playoff games the run game has sucked. Parker has basically had one long run in 4 playoff games. And those were years the run game was 'supposedly' good.

Two intangibles you left out. Most important, opposing defenses have to sacrifice on pass coverage to stuff our running game. Second, in the playoffs you're facing the best run defenses in the league every week.

[PATitanSteveCJ Profile]

Wow, I had no idea the Steelers were that bad in playoff games rushing. I have a feeling that streak could come to an end though, against a susceptible Chargers run defense.

It had better, because this is the last week for it to develop, no one is going to be running against the Titans or Ravens.