Slide back for a sequel
The same offensive woes were up for discussion in 2013 season
A moribund running game, red-zone problems, injury woes on the offensive line and rumors swirling around Ben Roethlisberger at the center of the Steelers offense.
Sound familiar?
No, we aren’t talking about the 2020 Pittsburgh Steelers, the ones who are 112 and one win (or a Cleveland loss) away from clinching the AFC North Division title for the first time in three years. All of those were key story lines for the 2013
Steelers, the ones who finished 8-8 and missed the postseason for the second year in a row.
Sometimes, in the world of the Steelers, the more things change the more they stay the same.
While that team had many issues — some of which were ironed out after a slow start and others that lingered even through a three-game winning streak to
end theseason—theproblems on offense feel much like those that plague the current team. The major tie that binds? These Steelers are averaging just 89.1 rushing yards per game, secondworst in modern franchise history behind the 2013 team that averaged 86.4 in Le’ V eon Bell’ s rookie year.
The question is partly whether the Steelers are capable of putting their heads down and running the ball, and partly whether they have any desire to do so with Roe thl is berger leading the league in pass attempts for the second time in as many healthy seasons. And if this offense has an identity crisis, it’s not about who they are, but rather what they should be.
“We understand we have some difficulties, some complications, a very strong lack of focus right now ,” tight end Eric Eb ron said Thursday on his “17 Weeks” podcast .“I just feel like our team just needs a regrouping of some sort, and it’ s been tough on us.
“Somehow, we’ve just got to learn how to regroup, re focus, and put everything back together.”
Can you hide if you can’ t run?
The word of the week for the Steelers is “physicality .” A lack of it seems to bea pa latable enough way to sum up the offensive woes, and an improvement in it is being touted as one way to solve the issues on that side of the ball.
But the past couple of months —and the numbers and the style of play—would seem to indicate that rushing with any efficiency simply isn’ t in this team’ s DNA. After starting the season with 100plus yards on the ground in the first five games, the Steelers have hit that mark just once, at 106 yards in their win at Jacksonville. They also haven’t Buffalo Bills averaged 4 yards per carry since Week 4, bringing their season-long average to 3.9, better than just two teams: Atlanta and Miami.
Roethlisberger consistently has said the overall failing soft he offense start with him, but in the immediate aftermath of the Bills loss, he started else where.
“Defense scan play the pass if you can’t run the ball,” Roethlisberger answered after the first question of his postgame news conference. “We need to do better at being a more balanced offense. We need to do better at executing the plays that are called .”
One Super Bowl-winning quarter back who still follows the NFL closely made some headlines this week by saying the Steelers aren’t going to win a championship the way their offense is built. Trent Dilfer, who’ s a high school football coach in Tennessee, makes frequent appearances on Fox Sports Radio.
And that’ s where he said last week, that the Steelers have bought into a passhappy, air-raid offense, which worked well enough to get them to 11-0 but won’ t be sustainable in the post season. Di lf er, active on Twitter at@ Dilfers Dimes, told the Post- Gazette it’ s not so much an indictment of Roe th li sb er ger as it is how the Steelers offense has been constructed.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with Ben’ sego,” said Dilfer, who also does consulting onto pof his other gigs. “I think the only headscratcher to me is the tight ends they have. They’ re really good players. I like both of them. It’s not a criticism. They just don’t have an in-line thumper.”
Ebron and Van ce McDonald are an impressive duo, and the thought was that the Steelers could use more two-tight end sets to improve their running game. Team president Art Rooney I I made it a point in January to say he would like to see the Steelers be a more consistent rushing team, calling it “an important component” to playoff success.
But so far, the Steelers haven’t found much success running out of any personnel grouping, instead defaulting to four wide receivers and Ebron as the tight end when Roe th li sb er ger is running the no-huddle offense. And when they need to get back to basics, they’ve been unable to move the ball on the ground.
“I understand the trends, and I agree with a lot of them because there’ s just so much ‘free’ offense out there when you play spread, and it’ s hard to not take it ,” Dilf er said .“But you have to have a physicality to your game. I don’ t think I’ d use the word‘ balance .’ Tome, they have to be more physical in the run game. Even in their passing game, the screen game, they have to be more physical.”
Bump in the road?
The previous time the Steelers struggled to this degree with their running game, there were whispers that Roethlisberger had to adjust his style of play. Multiple NFL Network reports painted him as frustrated with the organization, and vice versa, and Roe th li sb er ger bristled at the notion.
“If a player, coach or frontoffice person has an issue or wants to talk tome about how I can bea better team mate, then come tell me ,” Roe th li sberger said in November 2013. “When someone is a source and unnamed, they have an agenda. Their agenda is not winning football games and helping thisteamwin.My agenda is trying to win football games.”
Things seem less dire this time around. They always do when you’ re a top the standings. And Roe th li sb er ger this week used the word “phony” to describe a CBS Sports report that he has a more significant knee injury than he’ ll admit.
“I saw that report. I don’ t know where it came from,” Roe th li sb er ger said .“I think it was the one that said the Steelers were concerned. I would love to know who that was or who told him, because the week before against Washington, I was having issues with my knee, landed on it, had something going on. But other than just an old knee and arthritis, my knee actually feels really good this week .”
But it was just a month or so ago that Roe th li sb er ger and head coach Mike Tomlin seemed to be on different pages as far a show often they operated in “backyard football” mode rather than using offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner’ s play-calling. Roe thl is berger addressed that, too, during this two-game skid— and did so in a light-hearted manner.
“Well, the ground is frozen, so you really can’ t draw anything in the dirt. Obviously, that was just a figure of speech, but we are still going through that ,” Roe th li sb er ger said Wednesday, a few minutes after showing that he can still have an edge to him when it comes to the doubters.
“There’s a lot of outside noise, and deserved ly so. We haven’t played well. We’ve lost two in a row. The fans are getting anxious. The talking heads are doing what they are supposed to do and talking bad about us and all that stuff. We’ ve heard it and de served it recently.”
If the Steelers do the unthinkable and lose Monday night at Cincinnati, or even continue to scuffle offensive ly, the blame game merry-goround will continue to turn. It could land on Roe th li sb erg er, Fichtner, Tomlin, the offensive line, the running backs.
An identity crisis can be one of those football cliches, and the Steelers are far from the only team—even among Super Bowl contenders—f acing that rhetoric. Perhaps they’ re in more of a chicke nor-egg situation. Are they unable tor una complementary offense because they don’t have the right pieces, or do they not have those pieces because they’ ve put so much emphasis on one dimension over theother?
“We’re always looking to find answers, ”Fichtne rs aid. “I don’ t always heart he noise, because I’m not sure where it’s all coming from and that type of thing. Truth is, I would hope I wouldn’ t ride a rollercoaster of it .”
And for the Steelers offense, this is far from the first time the ride has gotten bumpy.