Originally Posted by
86WARD
Watching the 2020 Steelers, the few things I noticed:
• James Conner was definitely the hardest and most definitive runner of the group. The problem with Conner was that they would put him in to situations where he was running East/West and he’s just not that type of runner. It also didn’t help that the O-Line never could seal the edge. North/South, Conner was productive...from the naked eye. I’m not sure if there’s a place to go to see the stats of one (E/W) vs. the other (N/S) but from watching the games (sometimes twice) as an average Joe, that seemed to be the main issue.
• Benny Snell plays very slow. Extremely slow and then he doesn’t always select the proper hole or make a decision as to where to run in a timely fashion. Just seems everything is overly slow with him.
• Anthony McFarland looked very promising during the Houston game but then he was never used again. If I remember correctly, size-wise and measures led were on par with Maurice Jones Drew? I think that’s something I’d like to look into a little more. Maybe he’s one of those guys that needs reps to get going?
• Kalen Ballage had some good games in San Diego, but he’s not a starter in my opinion.
• Finally and most obviously, the O-Line and play calling just wasn’t run friendly. As you said, when the Back is in 11 personnel from the shotgun, you’re already at a disadvantage. Now mind you, what you didn’t mention and what I saw (again, average Joe) was at times, the O-Line would pass block (took a two back instead of attacking) on that shotgun draw play. So not only is your back two steps back, not moving but now the O-Line and defenders are also one step closer with less room to run. That frustrated me to no end.
There was a lot wrong with the run game as a whole and a lot of work needs to be done with it. There is no “one-fix” to it.