While not nearly as disappointing as the outcome itself, the Steelers' inability to run the ball in the 24-21 loss in Oakland last Sunday was troubling.
With an offensive line considered one of the NFL's best working against a defense that entered the game allowing 153 yards per game on the ground, the running game figured to be reliable even without injured James Conner.
Conner's right ankle has him officially listed as questionable, as of the injury report released Friday afternoon, meaning he's likely to miss his second consecutive game Sunday against the Patriots. Also, right tackle Marcus Gilbert (knee) will miss his eighth consecutive game and ninth of the season, and receiver Ryan Switzer (ankle) was added to the injury report and is listed as questionable.
Though Conner likely won't play this week, the Steelers will give him a chance to test his injured ankle in pregame warmups before making a decision.
Rookie Jaylen Samuels was limited to 28 yards on 11 carries, while veteran Stevan Ridley managed just four yards on five carries in last week's loss at Oakland. The end result was a game in which the Steelers ran for just 40 yards, making them overly reliant on their passing game, something that became an issue when Ben Roethlisberger was knocked out of the game for most of the second half with a rib injury.
Figuring out some way to cobble together a running game to supplement their offense could be critical to the success of the Steelers (7-5-1) against the Patriots (9-4).
"We were a little sluggish, sloppy in the running game," offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner said of the loss to the Raiders. "A little bit on-edge. They did a nice job moving and we didn’t maybe do a great job adjusting to some of the movement things that they did. It just seemed like it wasn’t as consistent as it probably should’ve been."
But, as the Steelers are quick to note, they did get production out of their running backs. Samuels had seven receptions for 64 yards, while Ridley scored on a two-yard touchdown run. They even had tight end Vance McDonald catch a 19-yard screen pass after lining up in the backfield late in the first half.
They hope to cobble together some kind of similar production this week out of their backfield.
"One thing you have to understand from the outside world, you look at a run and pass, a lot of people are runners when you hand the ball to the running back, we look at our short screens, some of our short passes as run game alternative," Roethlisberger said. "So, I think those numbers get a little skewed sometimes when you look at kind of what technically is a run and what technically is a pass. So, we need to have efficient plays regardless of what they are."
Still, there are times when the Steelers need to actually line up and be able to run the ball.
New England allowed 189 yards on just 21 carries in a 34-33 loss last week at Miami, an average of 9.0 yards per attempt. The Patriots also allow 4.9 yards per running play and 6.34 yards per play on first downs, which ranks 27th and 26th in the league, respectively.
But with Samuels and Ridley, both of whom are averaging 2.6 yards per rushing attempt, can the Steelers exploit that?
They certainly couldn't against the Raiders, despite Oakland's poor rush defense.
Heck, of late, they haven't exploited any team's rushing defense. The Steelers have just 206 yards on the ground in their past four games, three of them losses.
“Yeah, it was disappointing because, like I said, we’ve had these abilities to be in a winning position, be able to run the ball, and that’s what you’re trying to get to every game," David DeCastro told me. "And to not be able to get to that, get those leads, is tough. Fighting towards the end of the game every week’s tough. We take pride in being able to do that, but we haven’t been able to do that these past couple games."