PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Steelers are coming off by far their worst rushing performance of the season, although the Steelers offensive coordinator didn’t want to refer to it as struggling. Arthur Smith rather compared their running game and offense in general to a vintage vehicle.
“We're like an old pickup truck,” Smith said Wednesday. “We'll run well. We're pretty damn good, and the longer you get the thing in drive, sometimes it just takes a little while to crank the engine.”
“We’ve got to get some jumper cables.”
Steelers ran for only 56 yards on 17 attempts in Philadelphia Sunday. That ties for the worst yards-per-attempt average of the season at 3.3. Over the previous five weeks, the Steelers averaged 3.6 yards-per attempt or under in every game but Cincinnati (4.2).
Najee Harris hasn’t had a 100-yard game since the Giants, which was the third in as many weeks. Here are Najee’s stats since October 28
· 21 carries, 53 yards at Washington, TD
· 18 carries, 63 yards vs Baltimore
· 16 carries, 41 yards at Cleveland
· 16 carries, 75 yards at Cincinnati, TD
· 16 carries, 53 yards vs. Cleveland, TD
· 6 carries, 14 yards at Philadelphia
Harris spoke about execution numerous times on Wednesday and how all have to take a share in trying to get it righted. That’s where we get back to the old pick-up truck reference.
“Where we just plod along and then we get going and we have some really good drives and play some explosive football,” Smith said. “Obviously we've won ten games. I look at it more as that.”
Steelers have had success and have qualified for the playoffs with three games still to play. As Smith also pointed out they are still one of the better rushing teams in 2024, overall 10th in rushing yards (1,773). It’s also notable they are 31st in yards per attempt (3.9), tied with the Dolphins and Rams. They are one of seven teams in the league without a rushing play of 40 yards or more.
Smith said you can look at every play in football and it’s the nuances that makes the game fascinating. You might see some runs with a couple of holes to run through. Another time, as Smith put it, there is a hole you could drive an old pickup truck through, but it wasn’t recognized or leveraged enough and it becomes a one-yard gain.
Efficiency is where Smith points to the issue. While earlier saying they weren’t struggling, he admits they’ve got to be better and it’s not good enough.
“If you want to go far in the playoffs, I mean, those are the stuff you got to fix,” Smith said. “We got to be improving. We’ve got to play well, and obviously play well enough to win Saturday.”