A closer look at Mendenhall's performance last Sunday
by acrollet on Oct 6, 2009 11:19 PM EDT
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PrintWe all know that Rashard Mendenhall had a career game last Sunday, eclipsing his previous career total for yards and carries, scoring two touchdowns, and generally looking like the guy he was drafted to be. However, against a rush defense as suspect as the Chargers, (28th in the league, allowing over 150 yards/game on the ground) there are still questions. Was it solely the opponent? Was it just better line play? Was play calling a factor? After the jump, I'll have analysis of a play that will hopefully help answer some of these questions.
Sorry for the small photos - I wanted to show the whole field to help give a feel for what all was going on in the play - you can click on photos to enlarge them.
The first run came on the 4th offensive play of the game. Ben Roethlisberger had pinned the D's ears back with three straight completions for first downs, none going for less than 15 yards.
Just after the snap (via flickr.com)
San Diego had seven men in the box - notice Wallace coming in motion to fake the reverse.
mid-way to the hand-off (via flickr.com)
I'm no line play expert, but this looks like man blocking to me - everyone on the line jumped right at the guy in front of them. Note the defender hanging back - my guess is that he doesn't want to over-pursue the play and get behind Wallace.
Two ways to look at this - San Diego goes tackling-optional, or Mendenhall showing the burst and power he was drafted for. Note that Starks, Hartwig and Ward have all locked onto their man and blown them 3-4 yards off the LOS. Colon and Miller also do a nice job of pushing their men away from the play. (via flickr.com)
Kemo had lost contain on his man, who should have tackled Mendenhall. However, Rashard put the spin move he learned in dance class on him, and shows excellent balance getting turned around and up the field. (via flickr.com)
9 yards later, this play is history. Santonio didn't block as such, but kept his man out of the play. (via flickr.com)
It's hard to draw too many conclusions from one play, but this one at least showed a combination of all the factors I mentioned above contributing. Good play calling, decent blocking, hard running, and a suspect defense all played a role. I'm hoping to get through the rest of the game later this week, and maybe chart a couple more plays. I'm particularly interested in whether the O line was consistently running power blocking plays.
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Typical play for this game
That’s a nice choice of a typical play for Mendenhall. 1. It was set up by the threat of the pass, resulting in seven in the box. 2. It went left, which is contrary to usual run tendency. 3. Hartwig dominates the NT, as he did all night. 4. Starks is getting into the second level after helping Kemo, blocking two more players. 5. Mendenhall’s burst off a stretch handoff allows him to beat the linebacker to the hole and his leg power and balance helps him break an initial hit by the defensive lineman. 6. Mendenhall finished the run hard, gaining two more yards after being hit straight up at the seven-yard line.
This was what happened for 60 minutes. Control of the line of scrimmage at the point of attack, linemen who were mobile and finished their blocks in the second level, tight ends sealing the edges, running plays that were enhanced by establishing a deadly passing game, and hard, fast, punishing running by Mendenhall. The front seven of San Diego was pathetic, but at some point you also have to give credit to a job that was just well done and a game plan well implemented by Arians.
The hard part for Mendenhall is just beginning. I’m sure I’ve bored many people to death with my optimism about him and the run game in general, but everyone has to keep his performance in perspective. It’s just one game against a bad defense. We’ll need to see a lot more games before we know for sure what we’ve got, but it was a great and long overdue taste of the sheer physical talent the kid has and how explosive he can be if the OL does its job.
In some ways...
I’m not concerned how they do against those teams. I hope they instead game plan to not try to run it down their throats. When you’re facing a fantastic run defense you don’t run it the same way you do against mediocre defenses. Much like I love when teams think they can come to Pittsburgh and run against the Steelers. Passing the ball is dangerous, but it can be done and you have a better chance of racking up pass interference calls or lucky breaks where Ike Taylor attempts to go for the interception and instead tips the ball directly to you for a touch down.
by Chicago Steeler on Oct 7, 2009 9:01 AM EDT up reply actions
a good case for all
I think all of those were contributing factors. The defense was less than stellar, the OL blocked wonderfully, and Mendy ran the way you would expect a 1st rounder to run. If you want to talk strictly about Mendy there were a lot of good signs. He was explosive in hitting the hole, if there wasn’t one where it should be, he was quick in identifying that and getting to the next closest one, he was good at getting yards after contact, he caught well and blocked well. Overall a very complete game that shows much promise. It is only one game but there were enough good things to give hope for a bright future. I know for the first time in a long time, I didn’t cringe at 3rd and 2.
mendenhall
Why worry about success. He also blocked well. I don’t think you know enough to comment on this stuff. Let the coaches figure it out.
I disagree
If all we did was wait for “the coaches [to] figure it out” there’d be a lot less to read on this site. I appreciate the “thoughtful amateur” approach to dissecting plays and coaching strategy. That doesn’t constitute “worrying about success” to me. I think we all appreciate the latest success of the running game.
That said, I’m on the side of those who want to wait a few weeks before climbing on the bandwagon. Remember how FWP ran wild against SD in the playoffs last year, and didn’t do squat the following week against the Ravens? You won’t see Hartwig blowing Ngata three yards off the line of scrimmage. In fact, we’ve had problems moving him even when he’s double teamed. Once #34 reels off a few good runs against Baltimore, I’ll be a believer.
Nobody's gonna do that
We aint ever gonna run up the middle on Baltimore. But at least we can get more than like 2 YPC.
Truth is with them, you have to try to play them outside. Ngatas a beast up there.
Nice work
Thanks for the excellent post acrollet.
I’m very intrigued to see how the carries start to get split up when FWP is 100%, but based on the comments from Tomlin at his presser yesterday, I think he isn’t looking to rush FWP back.
Willie is the starter and he'll get most of the carries
Like the Bus said on si.com, Mendenhall is an insurance back at this point. But one hell of a back as of right now. ;)
Bring a towel to the game. Black or gold or yellow. If you don't have one buy one, If you can't buy one, dye one!!!
by SoCalSteelerFan on Oct 7, 2009 1:35 PM EDT up reply actions
Not so sure
Willie is likely out for Detroit. That means a good chance of Mendy getting another 100. Going to be hard to take the rock from him if he does that.
Not saying I am sold on Mendy, but at this stage he seems to have more upside than Willie. I do want to see how he comports himself against a good D though. San Diego has been a lousy run D with both Williams and Merriman healthy. That’s about 650 pounds of pro bowl beef that they missed in the middle.
by SteelerBuddha on Oct 7, 2009 3:02 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
kinda bad luck for FWP that he got injured just before the soft part of the schedule
Mendy will have a chance to look good against the Lions and Browns, whereas Parker started out against three teams with decent to excellent run Ds.
I know
We all know FWP would have torn up San Diego also.
But hey, it cant hurt to have two great backs on the roster. Hopefully mendy can get a good confidence boost these few weeks, and the two of them can pair up and violate opponents for the year.
We'll see
This is not a slight against FWP. The chance of him being here next year is pretty slim, in that I don’t think the Steelers will pay him what he thinks he is worth, similar to the Joey Porter situation. With that said, if your back of the future is playing well(notice I said if)on a consistent basis, why would you give more carries to someone who is on the way out? This all depends on whether or not Mendy can back up last week with similar efforts in future games. If he can, I think it will be Willie coming in as a change of pace back.
I loved how Mendy dragged people, on every play
If he can continue to drag them and fight for every yard, he’s gonna become one of those runners that defense teams hate to play against. (like Bettis)
No one runs against..
The Ravens or the Vikings; if you are expecting the same from Mendy on those games than against San Diego you are up for a big disappointment.
Adrian Peterson run for 50 yards against the 34 defense of the Packers, is he a potential bust?
All you can hope is for Mendy to run hard and make a lot of 2 and 8 instead of the more common 2 and 12 that we have seen lately against good run defenses. Remember the Ravens had held 38 runners for less than 100 yards on a row. I doubt all of them are bust or not NFL ready.
Running well is always relative
You’re right that no one puts up 100 yard rushing performances against the Ravens or Vikes. So, it’s unrealistic to expect that from FWP or Mendenhall. But that doesn’t mean they can’t run hard, break a few tackles, pick up blitzes, and catch screen passes. I remember the Bus running hard, pushing the pile, eking out 2 and 3 yards and then once or twice a game, gashing the Ratbirds for 8 or 10 yards. There is a tactical advantage to making even good run defenses respect your ability to run the ball. My point was that you can’t anoint someone a star running back on the basis of a single game’s success against a lousy run defense.
ravens??
Last year, the NY Giants rushed for 200 plus against them…but true, 1 back didnt rush for 100.
by nycsteelerfan on Oct 7, 2009 4:41 PM EDT up reply actions
I remember after that game, all of the sportscasters were saying “No team is capable of containing Earth, Wind, and Fire.” Did they not watch week 8 Steelers vs. Giants? Jacobs: 18 rushes, 47 yards, 2.6 avg, 0 TDs. Ward: 13 rushes, 37 yards, 2.8 average, 0 TDs.
Also, Bradshaw basically ran for 100 yards against the Ravens with 96 yards on 9 carries.
" I’m glad we play Pitt twice, and not Tenn this year." - Salty Browns Fan.
by John Stephens on Oct 7, 2009 4:48 PM EDT up reply actions
Have to call a spade a spade...
The Giants have the best O-Line in football, in my opinion. Minnesota is good, damn good, but they do not work as a unit as well as the Giants. Every single lineman can operate in space, every single one can pull and block in the secondary, and they all play pass and run really well regularly. They are a complete group, six deep. No matter how good a defense is, it is difficult to stop five linemen firing off as a group in unison. Add to that a few really good RB’s, there you have it.
In the Steelers case, 11 men playing as one beats 5. No slight on Baltimore, but at times their guys can do their own thing, rover style. Lewis, Reed, Suggs, all three at times free lance and can be found out of place. For us, the only guy that does that is Troy, but he plays with a controlled chaos that almost makes him the exception to the rule.
by NYSteelersFan4 on Oct 8, 2009 9:15 AM EDT up reply actions
Who you callin spade!!
just kidding
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." - Winston Churchill
spin move
Mendy spun Sunday night, a lot. You don’t see that much spinning outside of a videogame.
Is it worrisome?
I would think spinning stops your momentum, lets a second or third defender take a shot at tackling, and maybe most dangerous of all, separates the ball from the body and increase odds for a fumble.
In my limited internet research, I couldn’t find much about whether the spin move increases injury risk or turnovers. Any thoughts?
Also, an individual player may not run on the ravens, but the Giants did drop 200+ rushing yards on them last season.
His spins were decent
A lot were after contact. Like more of a bounce. And he did it in a controlled fashion, vertical and tight, not making himself a huge target.
He kept his feet moving a lot too which I liked. He kinda had Bettis’s feet there, nimble on a strong body. Of course the comparison ends there.
Methinks you over-analyze
As long as he keeps breaking 100 yds. per game, I don’t care how he gets it done. But it’s true that San Diego’s patched-up D will never be confused with the Ravens D.
80
Is a number I would be happy with against either the Vikes or the Ravens. The great thing about the Offense in the SD game(yes I realize it was SD) is that it was feeding of itself. The threat of pass opened up the run game and the threat of run opened up the play action, which gave Ben all day long to pass. It was a beautiful thing to watch. If either of them over commit to the run, Ben will eat them up in big chunks.
he did great but....
beware running so high..he can get crushed running that high and opposing teams are seeing on tape right now to, fumbles and injuries will happen..he didnt run high on every carry and when he got low he had some power but did run high 50% or better…im sure that was pointed out by coaches though
yoy
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