Let's Talk About Running the Ball for a Minute

...and give the "Cut/Bench/Retire" Ben topic a rest...

Where's the running game?  Where's Fast Willie Parker?  I know where Hurt Willie Parker is...but I can't find our ground game.  Over the past 38+ seasons, the Pittsburgh Steelers have PRIDED themselves on two things: 1.) Running the football, and 2.) Stopping the run.  In fact, it was that exact philosophy that got BOTH Mike Tomlin and Bill Cowher hired.

Now the latter, we're doing great...3rd rush defense in the league, you can't complain about that.  As always, Dick LeBeau has us at the top of the food chain defensively.  But on the flip side, our ground game has been relatively non-existent for much of the year...especially in our 3 losses.

Here's the breakdown of our loses and ground game performance:

Philly - (allows 103 ypg) - 19 carries - 32 yds 0 tds

Giants - (allow 88 ypg) - 22 carries - 95 yds 1 td

Colts - (allow 134 ypg) - 26 carries - 55 yds 2 tds

I'm no expert, but i see a disturbing pattern here...with the exception of the Giants game, our yards per carry are WELL below 3.0, and below 2.0 against the Eagles. 

This franchise has a mentality: play tough, stop the run, and run the football.  Running the football wears out the other team's defense, rests your defense, and get the opposing offense out of sync by keeping them off the field.  Also, general rule of thumb...running the football allows you to win the Time of Possession battle, and the team that wins that battle, wins the game the majority of the time.

That's all I have right now.  Suggestions, observations, concerns...all welcome.  But let's see if we can right this over the coming weeks.  One thing that successful Steelers teams have ALWAYS had, is a powerful running attack.  It's obvious that an injured FWP and Mendenhall will deplete our running capabilities...but the Broncos and Mike Shanahan have always been able to move the ball on the ground, regardless of who was running the ball, or who their qb was for that matter.