Film Room: Steelers Found Identity With Broderick Jones
"These aren't your granddaddy's Pittsburgh Steelers" is a popular saying in today's pass-first era, but that could not be further from the truth when used to describe this current team. This 2023 team is very much your granddad's: establish the run, force turnovers, and dominate the trenches, Steelers.
It took a little while to get here, but the Steelers are finally beginning to find a sustainable source of offense. Obviously, the past two weeks have yielded some encouraging results, with Broderick Jones being inserted into the lineup and the advanced numbers so far back this up.
Obviously, this is a very small sample size, and these can tend to be very volatile, but it is still encouraging nonetheless to see Pittsburgh in the top five of both of these categories through Weeks 9 and 10. The Steelers were 24th, entering Week 9 in rushing EPA, and now they sit 10th overall in rushing EPA, entering Week 11.
This short turnaround definitely has, in part, to do with the insertion of Jones into the lineup, but it also coincides with a few other notable details on film.
Blocking Execution
As detailed in prior film room pieces, much of the Steelers' run game woes came down to mainly a failure in execution. One of the main criticisms against this team, in particular, was its insistence on making Allen Robinson a focal blocking element, which was outlined in a prior piece. Against the Packers, though, he put together some key plays that may have gone unnoticed on the stat sheet.
This fourth down conversion is predicated by the success of the blocks from the receivers here. The Steelers look to be running some form of counter toss here, though I have questions as to how the execution on this play is supposed to work, given it is usually accompanied by a pulling blocker.
Schematically, this play should be a disaster, given Robinson has to block both Preston Smith, who is a 265-pound linebacker and the nickelback Keisean Nixon. Robinson is able to hold up Preston Smith just long enough for Jaylen Warren to beat Smith to the edge while also washing down Nixon to allow Warren a clean lane for a first down.
Despite some shoddy scheme here, the players were still able to execute and get a crucial first down. The scheme definitely was not all bad, though, throughout this game.
Something that has been apparent since they put Jones into the lineup is how much more often they're running gap scheme. Here, they elect to run counter and end up pulling the athletic Jones, who's able to create a nice crater for Warren to run through.
Obviously, the technical aspects are still a work in progress as Jones still ducks his head-on contact here with some wide-hand placement, which leads to the linebacker winning late in the play, but by that point, it did not really matter. This is why the Steelers drafted him, to be able to make athletic plays like this in the run game on the move.
Jones continued to showcase his promise as he executed what is called a snatch-trap technique here on the backside of this play. The execution as a whole on this outside zone play was blocked to perfection. Even Mason Cole gets up cleanly to the second level and makes quick work of De'Vondre Campbell here and leads to a wide-open hole for Najee Harris to run for a big gain.
What was a big talking point earlier in the season was the play of both Harris and Warren despite some less-than-par blocking up front, but in the past two weeks, they have combined for 371 yards on the ground, which is quite a substantial number compared to their 558 rushing yards coming into Week 9. Warren, in particular, seemed to relish the moment of being introduced with the starters and put together one of his finest performances.
The Steelers look to their zorro toss play here, where we see Isaac Seumalo stick to the three-technique while Mason Cole racks up an assist. This is the awesome vision by Warren to see the inside cutback lane so quickly, and he hits it without a moment of hesitation. He also was not done making an impact yet on this drive.
James Daniels loses his footing here when attempting to reach Campbell at the second level, but notice the slight shoulder drop towards the inside that gets Campbell to commit further down. This helps open just enough of a crease, and Warren showcases his excellent balance both through and after contact.
According to PFF, Warren was charted with five 10+ yard carries and nine missed tackles forced in this game on only 15 carries. Warren sits tied at 7th in the league in missed tackles forced on the season at 27 and currently rests tied at 6th in 10+ yard carries. Harris, meanwhile, is tied at 3rd explosive runs of over 15 yards with eight.
Conclusion
Better execution up front has allowed this run game to get going, as well as the addition of Jones on the right side, which has injected some much-needed giddy up to the scheme as a whole. While he is still a work in progress technically, his contributions are too noticeable for him to ever get taken off the field again for the rest of the season.
The Steelers duo at running back with Harris and Warren harkens back to a much simpler time when the run game dominated football. In the 1970s, both Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier helped carry the load for this team on the ground. In 2005, undrafted free agent Willie Parker helped team up with Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis to lead that team to a Super Bowl title.
While this team may not win a Super Bowl, it has clearly established its identity, one that'll surely be recognized by your dads and granddads alike. Like it or not, this is an offense built around running the ball.
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