There has been a great deal of spirited discussion here about frequency of run play calls, run/pass balance, etc. But here are some interesting numbers I came across. I have to admit I got the idea from Dave Bryan and the Steelers Depot podcast (I think the July 5th episode). Despite the individual statistical achievements and awards of Conner and the offensive line, the Steelers rushing attack was league average at best last season from a success/efficiency standpoint. To make this an honest comparison, I will admit I am having trouble finding comparable rankings for the passing game. I will keep trying.
So looking at just Conner, we have about the 20th most "successful" RB in the league per play (most places define success somewhere along these lines: A play is successful when it gains at least 40% of yards-to-go on first down, 60% of yards-to-go on second down and 100% of yards-to-go on third or fourth down.). The table is here: https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/rb
Similar analysis and numbers are also here: https://www.footballperspective.com/...-success-rate/
Here we see that as a team, the Steelers only ranked almost exactly in the middle in rushing success rate: https://www.footballperspective.com/...e-and-defense/
Interestingly enough, despite what it feels like, they were really effective at stopping the run: https://www.footballperspective.com/...e-and-defense/
If you want to really get into this sort of thing, you can waste hours on this tool trying different combinations of variables: https://www.sharpfootballstats.com/p...ate--off-.html It does seem that when the team had 6 or less yards to gain, they were far more effective than not running the ball. So perhaps the entire thing is skewed by too many runs in poor down and distance situations -- which is kind of the point of the stat....
This table (https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol) seems to say that the offensive line was about 19th or so in the run game and Conner was about 15th or so. To take a bit of look compare Adjusted yards to open field (A team with a high ranking in Adjusted Line Yards but a low ranking in Open Field Yards is heavily dependent on its offensive line to make the running game work. A team with a low ranking in Adjusted Line Yards but a high ranking in Open Field Yards is heavily dependent on its running back breaking long runs to make the running game work.). What the offensive line excelled at in 2019 was short yardage (power in the table) and not getting Conner stuffed at or behind the line. Also, they were almost unbelievable good at pass blocking.
ANYWAYS -- here is my question: Were the 2018 Steelers a poor running team? If so why?
I think they were a mediocre running team and the reason was Conner was inexperienced. The lack of "stuffs" and the success in "power" seems to indicate the line is doing a fairly solid job of providing Conner with holes. I suspect that like ANY rookie RB (which Conner essentially was) he needed more NFL level experience about how and when to hit what holes in the running game. I am interested to see if there is a significant improvement in this upcoming season. But I do think this COULD mean there was a reason in addition to rarely consistently having big leads that the running game was not leaned on more heavily in 2018.
I suspect many will not care for all the fancy schmancy "analytics" but I thought I would share.