71% of our runs were between the guards? Haley has got to do better in 2013

Our running game or more specifically the direction we ran the ball popped up on Steelersdepot.com last week. They tracked all of our carries in 2012 and came up with a disturbing number, 71% of our runs went between the guards. Maybe it's just me,but that just plays into a defensive coordinators hands by being entirely too predictable.




























































Waiting patiently for the inevitable but but but but but but but arians response

 

Nothing to do with Arians. We ran between the guards because we didn't have a RB with the ability to get outside. Dwyer and Redman are not going to be running outside the tackles. They are far too slow for that. Haley ran where he did because our RB's forced his hand. There's a reason we drafted a RB as high as we did (2nd round is pretty high for a RB).

 

Works for me on Madden...

 

Actually we had two in Mendy and Rainey. Obviously Mendy had some injuries to deal with, but Rainey didn't have those issues. About the only time we saw Rainey was on 3rd and long and painfully obvious draw play.

 

Mendy's problem was always the same....he was tentative. He had no CLUE about what he wanted to do and where he wanted to go sometimes until it was too late and the hole that he was supposed to go through was gone.

 

it's because of our linemen last year. they couldn't get outside or upfield in front of our RB's. starks is a terrible run blocker and always was. colon was slow. foster couldn't pull to the left. we ran behind our best blocker on the move in pouncey while trying to use colon and foster in what they do best straight ahead maul one guy and hope pouncey could hit multiple targets. we had big RB's that we would hope could break a tackle. it's also why we don't run many planned screens either.

that's all about to change this year. it's not all because of the back we have either. we will see a much different offense this year. the line will have to play together and it won't be an overnight success. i hope ben stays with it because it will open up the passing game, and when it's working ben likes to push it. i think if they play patiently in haleys offense with the new line it will be highly successful by mid season.

 

Use a fullback cuz and we'll be ok!

 

I wonder if Dan is still available?

 

I think he is. He did resign his post as the the Ambassador to Ireland.

 

And through it all, who stood by and watched it happen and did nothing to correct, solve, change, improve or eliminate...TOMLIN

 

I'm pretty sure he's referring to Dan Kreider.

 

Eh, they're roughly the same age.

 

He was! lol

 

72% of our runs were by guys with absolutely no speed to their name whatsoever. And that's counting Baron Batch as a speedster. It's great news that Bell is good at getting yards after contact, but so are Mendenhall and Dwyer, and especially Redman. It doesn't do you much good when you're dead last out of 32 teams in yards before contact. That's a stat owned by the OL, not the RBs.

With even less speed at RB this year than before, the running game will depend on the OL this year, which is promising but uncertain on the surface, and downright ugly once you get deeper. We need to stay healthy or we're boned.

 

You'll see a lot more outside this year, and off tackle. The stretch is a staple of the ZBS. Not to mention our OL is getting much more athletic.

 

Mendenhall out, Bell in. Slower. Also Rainey out, but we don't have to count him.

Not an enormous fan of 40 times. I prefer the tape, even for something as simple as speed. One of my favorite stats is that I think Jerry Rice ran a 4.71, but he was easily a 4.4 guy. Mendy was noticeably faster than all of those guys, and quicker than the two Steelers from last year's roster by a mile. I know he didn't play much in 2012, but my point was our quickest, fastest, should-be-starting running back is gone, and replaced with a guy quite a bit slower than him. No matter what the times are, Bell looks to be significantly slower than Mendenhall, and more in the Dwyer-Redman category.

Not saying we're worse off, and I know Bell has good feet for a guy his size, but we're definitely slower.

 

I guess my attempt at humor flew right over your head.

 

And yours too.

 

Well, .15 seconds in the 40 for a RB is nothing to sneeze at. That amount of time makes Mike Wallace a special player, and it made Jarvis Jones fall all the way to us.

Meh. So I was including Mendy, and you weren't. Big deal. You and I don't have much fire in our debates. They're pretty lame.

 

I think you both will be surprised! How is that for taking a stand? lol