Mike Tomlin: ‘We won’t accept our current position’ as ‘Dead Last’ team to rush



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Over the past three seasons, the Pittsburgh Steelers have placed 32nd, 29th and 32nd in rushing footage. They were also ranked 32nd, 30th and 24th in yards per attempt, although they sometimes managed to get the ball into the end zone – they placed seventh in rushing touchdowns in 2018.

Globally, however, it’s hugely obvious that the racing game is a problem, and it’s also hugely obvious that there are many facets of the equation involved that make them an inefficient team leading. the ball.

This is something that head coach Mike Tomlin acknowledged midway through last season, though their efforts to get things back on track were hampered by James Conner’s health and the fact that they were repeatedly dug into holes.

Tomlin reiterated the obvious early today at his season-end press conference when asked what the unit’s particular failures are. β€œI think when you were the last to die of anything, that’s all of the above,” he said. β€œIt is better to evaluate it as such. We will not accept our current position in this area. We can not. We have to attack this and we will ”.

The Steelers finished the 2020 season with 373 run attempts, the 28th most in the league, for just 1,351 yards and 12 touchdowns at just 3.6 yards per carry. Including the playoffs, they’ve been held within 100 rushing yards in 11 of their last 12 games.

And yet, they tallied over 100 yards in each of their first five games and made four individual 100-yard efforts during that span. Their early-season success on the pitch continues to baffle compared to the difficulties they would face later in the year.

Aside from availability issues, Conner has had a reasonable season for himself. He rushed for 721 yards on just 169 carries, averaging 4.3 yards per attempt, with six touchdowns and 215 extra yards as a receiver.

In his second season, running back Benny Snell racked up just 368 yards on 111 attempts, averaging just 3.3 yards per carry, although he also had four scores. Rookie Anthony McFarland added 113 yards on 33 attempts at 3.4 yards per. Jaylen Samuels had just nine attempts for 28 yards. Their biggest game came from Ray-Ray McCloud, who had a 58-yard finish to account for the majority of his 65 rushing yards.

Conner is expected to be an unrestricted free agent, as are three of the Steelers’ offensive linemen, including two starters, and one who could potentially be a starter. Staff, as Tomlin suggested, is just a problem though. There is also a scheme, a technique, etc.

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