Pittsburgh Steelers: Keys To Victory at Cincinnati (Part 3 of 3)

On Saturday, the Pittsburgh Steelers travel to Cincinnati, Ohio to take on their AFC North rival, the Cincinnati Bengals. These two teams split their regular season series 1-1 and each team will be looking to win this rubber match.

What can the Steelers do to win their first playoff game since 2010? Here’s the third and final installment of this three-part series.

No. 1. Steelers Need Something from the Running Game

What Happened?

In last year’s regular season finale, the Pittsburgh Steelers lost their #1 RB and biggest playmaker of the season, Le’Veon Bell, to a knee injury. Although the injury wasn’t serious enough to require surgery, it was serious enough to keep him out of the Wild Card game against the Baltimore Ravens. Unfortunately, his absence from the offense was a big reason the offense stalled out in the playoffs. The Steelers went on to lose the game 30-17.

In the lost, RBs Josh Harris and Ben Tate combined for 59 scrimmage yards on 18 total touches. The nonexistent running game forced the Steelers to lean on QB Ben Roethlisberger and the passing game. Roethlisberger attempted 45 passes during the game. There were only two other games in the 2014 season that Big Ben attempted more passes. With no threat of the run, this constantly allowed the Ravens defense to pin their ears back and rush Roethlisberger at will. He was sacked a total of five times during the game.

In the off-season, the Steelers put an emphasis on finding a solid backup RB. They needed to find an insurance policy behind Bell just in case he missed any amount of time with an injury. As Steelers fans would tell you, it was a good thing they did.

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When Bell came back in Week 3 after serving his two game suspension, he started right where he left off in 2014. Between Weeks 3-7, Bell managed to gain at least 127 yards from scrimmage in four out of the five games. He had three rushing touchdowns and three games over 100 yards rushing. At that pace, Bell was looking at his second straight All-Pro selection.

Then Week 8 happened.

In Week 8 against the Cincinnati Bengals, Bell was brought down awkwardly on a tackle by Vontaze Burfict and tore his right MCL. Just like that, his season was over. Now the free-agent signing from the off-season, DeAngelo Williams, was the team’s #1 RB and boy, he did not disappoint.

Dec 13, 2015; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers running back DeAngelo Williams (34) against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. The Steelers won 33-20. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /

Between Weeks 9-16, Williams averaged slightly over 125 yards per scrimmage and had eight rushing touchdowns in that span. He had three separate games in which he had two rushing touchdowns. Not to mention, he had a three touchdown performance back in Week 2. Yep, the Steelers’ offense was rolling and it was in large part due to Williams.

Then Week 17 happened.

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In Week 17 against the Cleveland Browns, Williams had his ankle/foot caught under a defender while he was being tackled. The injury kept Williams out for the rest of the game and because of it, Williams is going to miss the Playoff game on Saturday.

Now What?

It’s Deja Vu again for the Steelers because they enter their playoff game without a RB that has any real experience.

The Steelers are now left with RBs Fitzgerald Toussaint and Jordan Todman.

In two years in the NFL, Toussaint has zero touchdowns and a regular season average of 2.3 yards per carry. He has two career playoff carries for a total of 5 yards. Let me break out the calculator for you. That is 2.5 yards per carry (You’re welcome). The longest run of his career is 12 yards. Ironcially, the same game where he set that personal best, he finished with 11 yards on four carries. You read that right. He managed -1 yards on his other three carries and finished the day with 2.8 yards per carry.

Todman has had zero playoff experience in his four-year career but he does hold a career average of 4.1 yards per carry. He also has five total NFL touchdowns. However, he only has two games in his career where he had double-digit carries.

These two young and backup RBs have to do something on Saturday. They don’t need to put the game on their backs but they to do produce in some small ways.

A 6-8 yard run here or there.

A dump-off or screen pass for 7-10 yards once and awhile.

No fumbles or drop passes.

Jan 3, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (7) throws a pass during the third quarter against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Steelers beat the Browns 28-12. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /

Basically, they need to do just enough to keep the safeties and defensive backs honest. They can’t have them cheating towards coverage and let them get a better jump on the ball. The Steelers did not get that from Harris or Tate last year in the playoffs and look what happened.

Between the two, if they can get 20-22 total touches for 85-90 scrimmage yards, that will be a victory for this offense. If they can’t and they are forced to throw the ball 45-50 during the game against a defense that ranks 3rd in the NFL in interceptions and 10th in sacks, the outcome might be bad.

Yes, the Steelers have some serious weapons on the offensive side of the ball with Big Ben, Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant and Markus Wheaton. However, f you think the Steelers offense is good enough to blatantly abandon the running game and just throw the ball all day, you might want to think twice.

Remember the game spoken about from before? The 2014 Wild Card loss to the Ravens? The game where they had no threat of a running game? The one aspect of the game that was not mentioned earlier was the production from the WRs. If you remember, they all had good games statistically.

Antonio Brown finished with 9 receptions for 117 yards.

Martavis Bryant had 5 receptions, 61 yards and 1 touchdown.

Markus Wheaton hauled in 5 receptions for 66 yards.

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Each one of the these WRs had a good game and Big Ben was able to produce 334 passing yards. With that said, the #2 offense from 2014 was only able to score one touchdown in the game. They had to settle for three field goals from the Ravens 30, 28 and 5 yard-line. Without any real threat of running the ball, it was easier for the defense to play tight coverage on a shrunken field.

Out of DeAngelo Williams 11 rushing touchdowns this season, 10 came from three yards out or closer. The other one, came from six yards out. The Steelers will not have the luxury of relying on Williams in the redzone and if they have to constantly settle for field goals instead of touchdowns because of this, they might be looking at the same end result from last year.

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