Steelers HC Mike Tomlin admits that the team has the ingredients of a good running game, but keeps explaining away their lack of attempts. In a recurring theme, the Steelers are running less frequently than most of the NFL. Similarly, Tomlin repeatedly chalks it up to the offense struggling to convert on third down.
“I thought we had the bones of a really good run game, by plan and performance”, Tomlin said, via the Steelers’ website. “But I think Jaylen [Warren] only had 14 carries. That happens when you don’t win enough possession downs and maintain possession of the ball”.
The evidence doesn’t necessarily support Tomlin’s assertion that the Steelers don’t run the ball more because they don’t convert on third down. They fall in the middle of the pack in third-down conversion percentage, and plenty of teams with lower conversion rates run more. They also rank 11th in average yards to go on third down, so it’s not like they have an excessive degree of difficulty.
Tellingly, the Steelers have the fewest rushing attempts on third down in the NFL, though not necessarily by percent. At just 110 plays, they have also seen the fewest third downs in the NFL. But they’ve only attempted a rush on 18 of those third downs, fewer than any other team.
The Steelers also have the fewest first-down plays at just 226. While they don’t rank at the bottom of first-down rushing attempts, they’re not far from it. On first-down runs this season, the Steelers are in the middle of the pack at 4.2 yards per attempt. Despite having the third-fewest yards to go on second-down plays at 5.7 yards, the Steelers rank in the bottom 10 in rushing attempts. But they also happen to rank near the bottom in performance, averaging just 3.3 yards per attempt.
“If we win more third downs, we’ll get Jaylen [Warren] more touches”, Tomlin insisted while addressing concerns about the Steelers’ lack of attempts in the run game. “It’s as simple as that. Jaylen was having the trajectory of a good day in LA, but we didn’t convert enough third downs for you to really feel it”.
Yet everybody else seems to take a different view of how the Steelers have approached the run game. Many outside observers see them abandoning the run unnecessarily. After all, it’s not as though you can’t run the ball unless you’re leading. Not that it would have helped much in last week’s game, but this is a common theme.
The Steelers averaging the fourth-fewest attempts per game in the run game in the NFL this season. They also have among the lowest run-pass ratios in the NFL. This conflicts with everything that they talked about throughout the offseason—and with how they built their roster. Now, that’s not to say that the run game has been everything they hoped it would be when they do run the ball. But they could certainly strive to achieve a greater balance than they’ve allowed, regardless of third third-down percentage.
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