The Steelers ran the ball effectively under Arthur Smith’s game plan in the first half last week. He explained Thursday why he abandoned it in the second half. Pittsburgh recorded just three carries after halftime despite moving the ball effectively through two quarters.
The Steelers possessed the ball six times in the second half, going three-and-out or worse four times. They opened the second half with an incomplete pass on first down followed by a two-yard pass on second down. The third-down play was the uncalled offside penalty that Aaron Rodgers cited as damaging their momentum.
On the Steelers’ second drive, they opened with a four-yard run by Jaylen Warren. They then attempted five straight passes, including early gains of 24 and 11 yards, before hitting a field goal. After Rodgers took a sack on the first play of the next drive, facing 2nd and 20, they kept the ball in the air. And on and one it goes.
“Really there were not a lot of plays either. Again, it’s our own doing”, Smith said, via transcript from the Steelers’ media department, about the lack of a run game in the second half against the Packers. “Then we got the ball back down in three and started the fourth quarter. That’s when they made a sack”.
Soon after that, the Steelers found themselves down by 10 points. Smith said the Steelers “went to hurry-up” at that point, and noted DK Metcalf’s 15-yard personal foul on a 3rd and 2.
“You look back, and we did it to ourselves”, he reiterated. “I goes back to things we got to be better at. We had way too many second-and-longs, whether it was a penalty, or sometimes, I mean, they did make a play, but we had a missed assignment”.
Of course, if the Steelers wanted to run the ball more, they certainly could have. They did attempt a run on the first play after going down 10, Warren picking up three yards. On second down, he picked up five more. That should have made it 3rd and 2, but that’s when Metcalf triggered his inadvisable penalty.
And that was the last time the Steelers made use of the run game against the Packers. They had over 10 minutes to play and ran 11 more plays. And they already ran just three times on their first 16 of the half. Of course, when you’re down multiple scores and the clock is ticking, your menu does shrink.
The Steelers could have run the ball more to start the second half, certainly, but the way things unfolded, Arthur Smith is right to an extent about the circumstances dictating otherwise. They did shoot themselves in the foot, taking sacks or avoidable penalties, putting themselves in unfavorable down-and-distances situations.
Still, for a team that had clearly been on the upswing in one phase, it’s hard to see the Steelers lose a game they entered the second half winning by nine points while attempting only three runs. They had rushed for at least 100 yards in three straight games and were on their way to another great day on the ground. And then it just fizzled. And then they lost.
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