polamalubeast
09-17-2012, 06:05 PM
This probably wasn’t what Steelers president Art Rooney II meant when he made it a priority to run the ball better this season.
Since the NFL merger in 1970, no team has run the ball like the Steelers, and it’s not even close. The Steelers are only 335 yards rushing away from becoming the first team to rush for 90,000 yards since the NFL and AFL became one league. No other team has reached 85,000 yards, although the Cowboys are close at 84,666.
Franco Harris (11,950 yards in a Steelers uniform) and Jerome Bettis (10,571 yards) had much to do with that statistic, but so did a mindset and commitment to the run regardless of the coach, be it Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher or Mike Tomlin. The Cardinals, by contrast, have more than 18,000 fewer yards during that span, the equivalent of 18 single 1,000-yard seasons.
While new offensive coordinator Todd Haley has tried to establish the run, it’s not working. At least not yet. The Steelers’ 2.6 yards per carry average ranks 30th in the league, and their 141 yards rank 28th; 14 players in the league have 144 yards or more by themselves.
“We’re kind of struggling right now,” said starting running back Isaac Redman, who has been limited to 45 yards on 23 carries. “But each game, we’re hoping to get better and better.”
Jonathan Dwyer took over more of the load during the 27-10 win over the New York Jets on Sunday, yet he was held to a team-high 28 yards on 12 carries as the Steelers ended with 66 yards on 28 carries, six for negative yardage. Redman had 20 yards on 12 carries against the Broncos.
While the Steelers also had only 141 yards at this stage of the 2009 season, they haven’t had fewer yards rushing in the first two games since 1990, the next-to-last season of Noll’s tenure. They had only 117 yards then, in part because they were held to 49 yards in a season-opening 13-3 loss to the Browns.
Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/2615484-85/yards-steelers-redman-carries-run-game-running-season-team-ball?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tribunereviewsteelers+%28Stee lers+Stories%29#ixzz26lsRiVkn
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Since the NFL merger in 1970, no team has run the ball like the Steelers, and it’s not even close. The Steelers are only 335 yards rushing away from becoming the first team to rush for 90,000 yards since the NFL and AFL became one league. No other team has reached 85,000 yards, although the Cowboys are close at 84,666.
Franco Harris (11,950 yards in a Steelers uniform) and Jerome Bettis (10,571 yards) had much to do with that statistic, but so did a mindset and commitment to the run regardless of the coach, be it Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher or Mike Tomlin. The Cardinals, by contrast, have more than 18,000 fewer yards during that span, the equivalent of 18 single 1,000-yard seasons.
While new offensive coordinator Todd Haley has tried to establish the run, it’s not working. At least not yet. The Steelers’ 2.6 yards per carry average ranks 30th in the league, and their 141 yards rank 28th; 14 players in the league have 144 yards or more by themselves.
“We’re kind of struggling right now,” said starting running back Isaac Redman, who has been limited to 45 yards on 23 carries. “But each game, we’re hoping to get better and better.”
Jonathan Dwyer took over more of the load during the 27-10 win over the New York Jets on Sunday, yet he was held to a team-high 28 yards on 12 carries as the Steelers ended with 66 yards on 28 carries, six for negative yardage. Redman had 20 yards on 12 carries against the Broncos.
While the Steelers also had only 141 yards at this stage of the 2009 season, they haven’t had fewer yards rushing in the first two games since 1990, the next-to-last season of Noll’s tenure. They had only 117 yards then, in part because they were held to 49 yards in a season-opening 13-3 loss to the Browns.
Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/2615484-85/yards-steelers-redman-carries-run-game-running-season-team-ball?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tribunereviewsteelers+%28Stee lers+Stories%29#ixzz26lsRiVkn
Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on Facebook