steeler football and the running game

I have a good friend who is also a steelers fan and we were talking about the lack of running game. I think that the league is now a passing league and you cant win with the ground and pound anymore. The rules favor the passing game to much not to use the passing game primarily. We got into a good argument and I was wondering what everyone thought. Am I in the minority in thinking that U cant win consistantly with the running game. For the record I am for balance, but he thinks you can win turning around handing the ball off 40 times a game

 

You can win by primarily running the ball, teams still do it. You just have to be able to run the ball consistently, and we haven't been able to do that since Ariens came to town. He doesn't know how to run the ball consistently. Even last year when Mendy had great numbers, he was only averaging about 3 yards per carry.

Balance is important yes, but I do think a team can win by primarily running the ball just as well as they can win by primarily throwing. It's all about consistency.

 

I just look at teams that try and they are middle of the pack. the jags the jets and to some extent the browns. when you look at the teams that throw all over the field like the packers pats saints and even us now. I just think the days of being able to run the ball 40 times and win on a regular basis is in the past.

 

The goal is scoring, how that is accomplished doesn't matter. If a team can consistently get first downs by running the ball, not only will they score points, they'll tire out the defence more than if they threw the ball, plus they'll own the time of possession battle.

 

You see how bad the Ravens look when Flacco is throwing
40 times a game. They should just give it to Ray Rice and let him
do what he does. Th niners seem to be doing OK with there run game.
I beleive you need balance, we could be tearing it up with a great running game, Our problem
is our OC does not understand the running game and its importance. Didn't Troy P
state numerous times that this defense is not designed to play long portions at a time?
Doesn't time of poseesion help this out?

 

you can with by running the ball down the throat of your opponent, even if you play against NE / NO / GB ... but you have to come away with TDs.
in the end it doesn't matter how you get your TDs in games against opponents that are capable of putting up 6 on every drive, whether it's 100% rushing or 100% passing or something in between.

 

I think so much depends on the opponent and their strengths as well as your strengths. Yes, you can still win by pounding the rock against a team that is not as good stopping the run and eating clock. But your D has to be able to make stops as well. The D can't go out on the field and give up an 80 yd passing drive to the opposing offense in 1:20 after the your O just ate up 7 minutes covering 75 yards pounding the rock and put up a FG. The O gets little rest and a high-powered passing O from the other team coupled with your weak DBF would counter the effort. You've got to have a good DBF who can keep the high-powered passing O from scoring. Now, if the other team's O is crappy (ala B-more and Joe Flacco) then you are good to go. We saw it Sunday night with Jax / B-more. Jax ran the ball 42 times compared to 20 passes and came out with any ugly win, but a W nonetheless. Of course there were other considerations, like having a rookie QB who can't yet read blitzes well and hasn't learned to step into the pocket or take check downs, and the fact that the D had to step up - and they did.

Against the pats, we have to be able to get some positive yards on the ground early on and look for slants and underneath routes and play action. We'll need to throw some deep routes, but that has to be set up by the run and short passes using play action. Most importantly, our DBF has to have their best game of the year to keep Brady and co. out of the EZ. If our secondary plays like they did the last time we faced the patsies, then forget about the run game - we are going to have to go bombs away. Which will probably not end well.

 

I agree with everyone, we are inconsistent on the run. If we could continuously get positive yards and run the ball the way we used to, then we could control most games. A good example of this is Ben's rookie season in 2004. We ran the ball a ton, which set up the play action pass. We controlled the clock and the game. Made minimal passes, which was nice for Ben to develop. We took less pressure off of Ben, and just killed defenses for the most part. I think ben averaged maybe 20 throws a game. Which today is equivalent to one half of football

 

You can run the ball and if Cowher was coaching I believe you would see a return to a more disciplined and patient running game. TOP is very important and if you get into a ball slinging fest with the likes of Brady, Rogers and Brees I think you come up the loser. Having a better more consistent Oline perhaps would help the Steelers running game and of course more plays designed to pound the ball. If your playing Brady and he is throwing the ball up there and getting touchdowns and you fall behind by too many points the running game wont help ya.

 

The passing game currently is the "bomb" for many people. Green Bay did it. The Pats do it. Saints and Colts. Even us now.

The problem used to be...come to Pittsburgh and try to throw the ball 50 times in January. The snow would get you. The wind would get you. If you wanted to win, you had to be able to run. Domes have changed that, as has technology. Before UnderArmor and gloves for recievers, stomach pouches to keep QBs hands warm, it was tough to throw that much, it was to dang cold.

So you can win throwing it now, which is really what changed. You can still win as a mostly running team. Passing is still part of things in our past. There is a reason that Swann, Stallworth, and Bradshaw were all some of the best in their era, it wasn't from running the ball. To run the ball you need the following IMO:

1. A Defense that bends, but doesn't break to the high powered offenses that GB, NE and NO run. They can give up yardage and even points, but not always TDs. You must get some FGs.

2. You must have the OLine and RB to do it. There aren't a lot of colleges running programs any more where it is OT left...OT right. FBs have gone away and therefore RBs who made a gain of 2 go for 6 seem to be disappearing.

3. A coach who actually wants to win by running, not just win. Otherwise you get down 7-10 points and the OC comes over and says, you wanna win, we need to throw the ball.

For those who don't think you can win that way, look at the first 4 games we played last year, without Ben. It can be done.

 

Well I agree with your friend .......I strong;y believe that a Team with agreat D and 2 strong runners with speed to burn at WR can run the ball 40 times a game and crush people........A few reasons why is that as Teams prepare to stop the pass their ability to tackle bigger ,stronger, one cut runners is getting weaker...

Another point is that if you have a true 2 RB threat that can run ,pick up the blitz, and catch out of the backfield then the playbook is still wide open......For example put Red and Mendenhall in the same package and the 1st. thought is here comes the run.......At which point you can still run to either guy,throw to the TE'S or WR'S or motion 1 or both RB'S into a 4 or 5 WR set......This works great as the opponent has to committ to a package to stop the inside and the outside run,,,,,,and as I stated you can do whatever you like from that set......

So wothout going into huge detail and listing the other 10 or so reasons these 1st. two has got it covered......To me it is simple math and a simple chess game if we run it 40 times and 20 of those you picked the wrong RB we are pounding you to death and set up 2 or 3 scores in that aspect of the game.....If we show run on 10 more plays and hit the WR on 5 of those with the speed we have we probably score on 2 of those......If we show run 10 more times and hit the checdowns to the TE'S and WR'S then we probably extend drives and add a chance for another score.........

So by my Math thats 5 TD'S a game .....Enough for us to wn every game IMO......So even if you cut those in half at 20 points a game with our D and controlling the clock ,limiting turnovers,and imposing our will we win most of those games as well.....
So yes we can win lots of games run 1st. Team I have no doubt about it........I would go as far to say our lack of Love for the running game has cost us many games as well as Championships........We should be showing the NFL how to play not playing to keep up with them......

 

God, how I wish Ariens would utilize such a system.