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The Pittsburgh Steelers run game was woeful on Monday against the Washington Football Team. Pittsburgh rushed for 21 yards on 13 attempts by running backs including a miserable goal-line stand where the Steelers failed to score with less than a yard to gain on multiple attempts.
But don’t kid yourself, head coach Mike Tomlin is not going to own the fact the run game and the philosophy around the run game is broken. When he spoke to the media he continued to prop up the idea that the team is choosing to throw the ball as much as they are and it has nothing to do with how bad the run game is.
The problem with this whole debate is Tomlin and the Steelers coaches are setting the run game up for failure. When you sprinkle in a run every dozen pass attempts it isn’t going to work. And the whole situation is made worse by the fact that when the bulk of the Steelers passes are at the line of scrimmage it gives the defense no incentive to do anything but stack the box.
Pittsburgh only has a few days to swallow their pride and turn the run game around. This type of predictable offense is not going to fly for the remainder of the season. If Pittsburgh wants to be a serious Super Bowl contender, 50+ pass attempts per game isn’t going to work.
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