The Steelers had been on a roll running the ball prior to last Sunday's 17-10 defeat at the hands of the Bills at Heinz Field, averaging 35 carries for just over 140 yards.
That changed against the Bills, however, as they ran just 15 times for 51 yards despite the return of starting running back James Conner for the first time in six weeks.
Given the team's reliance on the rushing attack without Conner in the lineup, it was a surprising turn of events. Yet offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner said the decision to have rookie quarterback Devlin Hodges throw the ball 36 times wasn't necessarily the wrong one, especially when 27 of those throws came in the final two quarters.
"The situation in the second half might have dictated it a little more. At halftime, we were 50-50," Fichtner said of the team's run-pass ratio. "I don’t know if it’s always about the number. Sometimes, you kick yourself and say, 'Yeah, we should have run it a little bit more here. We should have passed a little more on first down,' things like that. But we’ve got to be more efficient when we do call the run and the pass and protect the ball."
The Steelers certainly didn't do that against the Bills, as Hodges, who hadn't thrown more than 21 passes in any of his previous three starts, was intercepted four times, three of those coming in the team's final five possessions. The Steelers also lost a fumble, as they set a season high for turnovers.
They also put themselves in a lot of tough situations. Of their 13 third down plays in the game, nine were third-and-6 or more. It led to a season-low 229 total yards.
And that was against a Bills defense that was much better against the pass than it was the run. This week, the Steelers (8-6) will face the Jets (5-9), who boast the NFL's second-rated run defense, allowing just under 90 yards per game and 3.3 yards per carry.
That wouldn't seem to set up well for the Steelers to get back to running the ball. But while the Jets are stingy against opposing rushing attacks, they do allow a lot of passes to the backs out of the backfield. Opposing runners have caught 82 passes against New York, the seventh-most in the NFL.
That's something of which the Steelers hope to take advantage, even if their rushing attack isn't working.
"Definitely," third-down back Jaylen Samuels told me. "You can tell that a lot of backs are getting a lot of balls because they’re playing a lot of Tampa-2 (defense). The backers are getting out of there with their backs turned. I’m guessing that’s why they’re ranked (so low).
"We’re going to try to do different things to attack their defense and find the holes, whether it be a check down in the flat or across the ball, we’ll take the easy things we can get and get those little chunks. Then, the big chunks will come, too."
Last week marked the first time in more than a month the Steelers had Conner, Samuels, Benny Snell, Kerrith Whyte and Trey Edmunds active in the same game, and Mike Tomlin said earlier this week he'd like to see a more definitive definition of roles among the running backs this week.
"You could say it’s a crowded backfield once we got James back," Fichtner said. "It’s not. Trying to get one into the flow is sometimes the issue. We talked about defining roles. We’ve been with these guys for a pretty long period. You know what these guys do well. You’d like to put them in those situations. Sometimes, you get a hot hand and you might want to stick with that one."
But being yanked into and out of the game quickly can hurt those efforts. That's why Conner and Samuels will probably take a more active role this week.
"Each one of them brings something special to the table," Fichtner said. "The thing that happens is about flow, in-game flow. It’s one thing to go in for a play, you run out and then you’re back in three plays later. That’s not the kind of flow you really want. It makes it a little more difficult. I could see where at times, if I were a back, I’d want to stay in there. It’s not that they can’t, it’s just there are things some guys do better."
The protection could be better, as well. Hodges was sacked five times in the game and hit seven others. The Bills blitzed quite a bit, putting six or seven players at the line of scrimmage pre-snap and dropping guys out at the snap to send others. It was a zone-blitz scheme right out of Dick LeBeau's playbook, meant to challenge a team that likes to throw short passes.
The Steelers expect to see it again this week from the Jets, who are a blitz-heavy team.
"We were a little bit on edge and that can spook a young quarterback," Fichtner said. "You’ve got to be able to protect yourself, too with certain calls. There’s a lot of things that go into protection. It was pretty consistent pressure last week. We had our moments and we had moments we have to improve on."
