Mike Tomlin talks RB preference with fans, why the Steelers won’t go to a by-committee approach if he can help it

PITTSBURGH — Someone needs to be Mike Tomlin’s primary running back.

That’s the way he likes to run his offenses. He’s said so in the past, and even as Pittsburgh struggled through injuries last year, there were games where Tomlin overwhelmingly handed the ball to James Conner or Benny Snell Jr.

When a fan asked Tomlin on a Steelers Nation Unite call Thursday afternoon about the position, the head coach stayed years-long consistent.

“I’m a featured runner-type guy by mentality,” he said. “I think that when you have a featured runner it gives them an opportunity to drop a stake in the ground and allows others to rally around him and gives us a set of core, base run plays that he specializes in, and you find rhythm in that way.”

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I agree with him. I’m not a big fan of the RBBC.

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Originally Posted by 86WARD

I agree with him. I’m not a big fan of the RBBC.

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I prefer the RBBC

If we look at the top 10 team in rushing yards for several years, many of his teams have RBBC ... Of course, he will always have exceptions, but I prefer not to rely too much on a guy and keep our RB fresh for the game and for the season ... RB like Conner or Willie Parker in the past are much better when their workload is less.

If you have a featured guy, it means you have a supremely talented and athletically gifted player. If you have a RBBC; it means you have 2-3 lesser players trying to fill a role.

There are, of course, exceptions -- the biggest one I can think of is Ingram and Kamara. But in general RBBC is a fancy way of saying you don't have very talented RBs.

Steelers have TE by committee - and no one likes that...

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Originally Posted by Mojouw

If you have a featured guy, it means you have a supremely talented and athletically gifted player. If you have a RBBC; it means you have 2-3 lesser players trying to fill a role.

There are, of course, exceptions -- the biggest one I can think of is Ingram and Kamara. But in general RBBC is a fancy way of saying you don't have very talented RBs.

Steelers have TE by committee - and no one likes that...

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I understand your point, but it's important to have depth at this position ... I don't like it when we wait for the wheels of the RB to fall!

The RB position is a different position than the others, so it's important to manage the RB well during the season and the games and the best way to do that is to have depth at this position and if it is the case, it is important after to use this depth to keep running back fresh during the season and in the games!

In the 10 rushing team in yards in 2019, only 3 teams (Titans, Cowboys and Vikings) had a clear cut number 1 RB and the 10 teams were all over 4.4 YPC,so this is not only the volume...

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Originally Posted by polamalubeast

I understand your point, but it's important to have depth at this position ... I don't like it when we wait for the wheels of the RB to fall!

The RB position is a different position than the others, so it's important to manage the RB well during the season and the games and the best way to do that is to have depth at this position and if it is the case, it is important after to use this depth to keep running back fresh during the season and in the games!

In the 10 rushing team in yards in 2019, only 3 teams (Titans, Cowboys and Vikings) had a clear cut number 1 RB and the 10 teams were all over 4.4 YPC,so this is not only the volume...

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Absolutely. Depth and RBBC are very different things to my mind.

It's worth what it's worth, but according to the projection, our running backs will have a favorable schedule for the run defense.