polamalubeast
09-20-2016, 02:41 PM
Cameron Heyward was drafted by the team at the tail end of about a decade of run-stuffing dominance. But even before he arrived in 2011, he watched the Steelers defense from afar.
“I remember teams would literally bail out by the first quarter and just pass,” Heyward said, “because they knew they couldn't run the ball.”
The Steelers appear on their way to getting back to that.
In what has been one of the on-the-field constants of the Steelers franchise in recent decades, stopping the run took a short hiatus a few years back. But now, it appears back in a big way — just ask opponents, who seem to be recognizing quickly the futile attempt of running on the Steelers and are giving up on it altogether.
“That's how we do things around here, playing the run,” linebacker Jarvis Jones said. “Being physical at the line of scrimmage, that's the way it's been done around here for a long time. We're just trying to get back to the old standard.”
A relatively low-scoring game played in muddy and sometimes-rainy conditions that never at any point had more than a two-possession lead margin?
If there ever was a situation in today's pass-happy NFL to establish the running game, that was it. But when the Cincinnati Bengals encountered those circumstances Sunday, their response was, at first glance, a curious one.
Throw, throw, throw.
Despite poor conditions, the presence of a pair of quality running backs and a game that was never really out of reach, Andy Dalton set a personal record for pass attempts with 54 on the slop that was the Heinz Field turf.
Why? They couldn't run on the Steelers.
read more
http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/11169349-74/steelers-run-defense
“I remember teams would literally bail out by the first quarter and just pass,” Heyward said, “because they knew they couldn't run the ball.”
The Steelers appear on their way to getting back to that.
In what has been one of the on-the-field constants of the Steelers franchise in recent decades, stopping the run took a short hiatus a few years back. But now, it appears back in a big way — just ask opponents, who seem to be recognizing quickly the futile attempt of running on the Steelers and are giving up on it altogether.
“That's how we do things around here, playing the run,” linebacker Jarvis Jones said. “Being physical at the line of scrimmage, that's the way it's been done around here for a long time. We're just trying to get back to the old standard.”
A relatively low-scoring game played in muddy and sometimes-rainy conditions that never at any point had more than a two-possession lead margin?
If there ever was a situation in today's pass-happy NFL to establish the running game, that was it. But when the Cincinnati Bengals encountered those circumstances Sunday, their response was, at first glance, a curious one.
Throw, throw, throw.
Despite poor conditions, the presence of a pair of quality running backs and a game that was never really out of reach, Andy Dalton set a personal record for pass attempts with 54 on the slop that was the Heinz Field turf.
Why? They couldn't run on the Steelers.
read more
http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/11169349-74/steelers-run-defense