Ed Bouchette

Was listening on the way to work and they were broaching an interesting subject...RB's...

The main topics in here CB's, ILB's, AB, Dupree, Tomlin etc...Ed was being pretty hard ( which is generally not his style ) on the organization, concerning the RB situation...

Basically what he was saying was...The Steelers HAVE to change their ways on how they approach / use the position...Going all the way back to Willie Parker...Run the wheels off!

Had Blount ( never used him ) Ran Bell into the ground...Got DeAngelo...When Bell was suspended he did great, when Bell came back...Didn't use him and ran Bell into the ground again...And Bell was hurt going into the playoffs again!

This year...Conner, an unknown...Ran him.into the ground with no competent backup...Conner gets hurt! Why do they believe in this philosophy!

He brought up the Rams and Gurley...The Chiefs and Hunt...Other teams use or gave competent backups....But we run oirs into the ground until they bresk! ...And they always break!.....Why!

 

Conner's good but he's not build like Bell to take the pounding IMO.

One thing no one can criticize Bell was that he was a workhorse on the offense. Yes not by choice, but he answered the call.

The good news was Samuels showed to be a good compliment. Behind them is no one.

 

I don't think they ran Conner into the ground. I think they ran him enough to be effective. He is like Bettis that way. It's not the two yard runs at the start of the game it's the 5 yard runs that become more because the defense is wore down. You can't throw the ball the first half of the game and then have a cold running back trying to break a big run in the second. I'd have to see the snap count vs carries to be sure but I don't think they were overloading Conner and early on didn't trust Samuels and Ridley to spell him.

 

Everything falls back to Tomlin being a dumbass in my opinion

 

Been saying it for years. RB is a committee position now. If done right, it works better for productivity, cost, and injury insurance. Yeah, Bell was special, but his attitude and immense touches were terrifying to me last year. We should never have gone down that ridiculous road with him this season. It's clear from the results this year that we can be fine with a few guys doing the job. Of course we fired the guy who seemed to be coaching that position well.

 

This strikes me as an odd complaint, given all the other stuff that's gone on.

The Steelers were 31st in rushing attempts this yr, so the RBs weren't exactly over worked. James Conner was 11th in ryushing attempts amoung all NFL RBs, a decent workload, but is that really running his wheels off? Ben threw the 4th most passing attempts in NFL history. Running wasn't a priority.

And I suspect going into the season,they were likely expecting to run Lev Bells wheels off,since he was Mr Shorttimer, and that would have met with universal approval from Steeler Nation. When Lev didn't show, they probably figured with Connor, Ridley and Samuels theyd split carries up enough. But Ridley got in the fumble dog house, Connor got hurt and they found themselves low on backs. It didn't work out.

 

I dont think connor isnt a guy you build around but that's just my opinion. I think we should be trying to get another rb in the near future.

 

Are we forgetting that Ben and Fitchner are running this offense? Add to that we just let one of the best OL coaches in the game walk away. We aren't predominantly running the ball anytime soon. I always called for splitting carries between Bell and DeAngelo after Bells suspension and they flubbed that situation completely. Nobody is changing the philosophy until we blow up the whole team. Wishful thinking but just not gonna happen.

 

I'd be very surprised if they didn't sign a veteran journeyman RB in the off season and/or draft a RB in the 3rd/4th round to split the load in 2019,.

 

Only reason why I disagree is because during a game ... if our running is working ... I like the theory of ... running the ball until they stop us.
Bell rushing for over 200yds speaks for itself
Conners rushing for almost 200yds speaks for itself
When a player is having a career game ...you have to ride him.
So, those games, I can't blame Tomlin

 

I agree with that but How often does that happen tho.. It's just plain stupid to give one guy 95% of the touches.. Plus if u have 2 different styles of running backs it gives the defense a different look as well

 

Draft this RB in this first round too?

 

The focus should not be on the running backs. Both Conner and Samuels did quite well when they were used. This team has other issues to focus on. I don't feel the running back position is one of them.

 

Conner wasn't run into the ground , injuries happen.

 

Dude stop it! common sense is not one of tomlin's fortes

 

They never really used Samuels until Conner got hurt

 

Really...Said this before, I don't know how to copy and paste...But go and look up how many carries the backup RB's got before Conner got hurt

 

There was games where they abandoned the run game, Conner wasn't on pace to carry the ball as much as Bell did.

 

I agree there but...The Steelers don't use their backup RB's at all! Never have...Why? Samuels did damn well when he was thrust into it, and we had no other choice...Same as DeAngelo...Why does it always have to come to that though...Conner was used quite a bit in the passing game also...

I agree with Bouchette in that it cost them dearly...As in possible Super Bowl dearlys when then ran Bell so much, and had him wore out, beat up, and hurt...going into the playoffs twice...When we a had a competent backup

 

I was just going to post something about this.

I miss how we used to delegate the RB workload.

We used to have Thunder and Lightning backs, and then a totally separate 3rd down back.

It used to be that way for a long time going all the way back to Bam Morris and Eric Pegram.

Verron Haynes and Meldy Moore were great 3rd down backs.

 

Count the losses

 

If the run game isn't working, then they should abandon it sometimes.

 

Count the losses when it's abandoned. Ben is at his best with a strong running game.

 

That's my point some games the run game just isn't working, if the RB is only getting 2 YPC, then they should throw the ball more.