News: Jaguars Give Steelers a Roadmap

[quote]Posted May 14th 2008 7:36PM by JJ Cooper
Filed under: Steelers, AFC North, Pittsburgh
Back when the Jaguars were establishing themselves, it sometimes seemed like they were copying the Steelers. They emphasized line play and a power running game, they swiped away Steelers Pro Bowlers Leon Searcy and Carnell Lake in free agency, and seemingly every year they would snag a waived Steeler just before a key Jaguars-Steelers game.

Now Pittsburgh is returning the favor.

After watching the Jaguars' two-headed monster of a running game run over the Steelers three times in this past two years, the Steelers decided they needed a combo-pack of their own. The Steelers haven't added teal to the team colors of black and gold, but if everything goes right, Rashard Mendenhall and Willie Parker will give the Steelers a pair of backs like Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew.

By drafting Mendehall, Pittsburgh not only has an effective backup to Willie Parker, they also have a back who hopefully will allow Parker to avoid the "stuffed for no gain" carries that have been as much a part of his career as the 40+-yard scamper.

The best case scenario for the Steelers is that the addition of Mendenhall will work just as adding Jones-Drew did for the Jaguars--by taking carries off of Fred Taylor, it ended up making him a better back. Taylor is bigger than Willie Parker, but both of them are big-play threats. In Taylor's case, adding Jones-Drew to take some of the pounding between the tackles has helped extend his career.

It's not like Taylor was washed up when the Jaguars drafted Jones-Drew, but it would have been hard to imagine that they would share the carries as effectively as they have.

Before Jones-Drew arrived, Taylor averaged around 290 carries a year, when he survived a full season--he'd missed at least two games in six of his first eight seasons. Now when he was healthy, he was usually one of the better backs in the league, but he's been better since Jones-Drew arrived. Taylor's carries per game have dropped from 18.4 to 15.2. His production, however, has barely diminished. He's rushed for more than 1,100 yards in each of the past two seasons, and has set career highs for yards per carry in each of the past two seasons.

When Parker farmed out the tough inside yards to Jerome Bettis in 2005, he averaged a sparkling 4.7 yards per carry. In the two years since as Parker's carries have gone up, he's watched his yards per carry dip to 4.4 (2006) and 4.1 (2007). Hopefully adding Mendenhall should get that trend headed back in the right direction in 2008.

Since Jones-Drew joined the team in 2006, Taylor has put together two of the best seasons of his career, even though he's on the wrong side of 30. He's topped 5.0 yards per carry in 2006 and 2007, something he had never done before, and he's still scoring just as many touchdowns as he did before Jones-Drew arrived.

Now Mendenhall can do the same thing for Parker. Parker may finish next season with a few less yards than he had in 2007, but he should be more productive on a per-carry basis. And hopefully it will add a couple of years to the end of his career as well.[/quote]

[url]http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/05/14/jaguars-give-steelers-a-roadmap/[/url]

I sure hope we can have a combo like the Jags, they key isn't adding a stable of RBs but to solidify the OL, as stated over 1000 times by others Hartwig is key. If he can hold up his part and not be the swinging gate that Mahan was we may just be in business.

Good read... I really DO think we may have found that "combo". And personally, am expecting Hartwig to be an improvement at stopping the pass rush up the middle.

The impact I'm hoping to see is that we place a stronger emphasis on getting Willie on the outside edge, where he is obviously more effective. Last season we continually sent him right up the gut and he seemed determined to try and pound it between the tackles rather than bounce it outside if nothing was there (which was usually the case). Not that Mendenhall doesn't have the ability to get to the edge and break off long runs, but if he can fill the inside niche, our staff will hopefully design more plays for Parker off-tackle.

I personally can't wait until the preseason to see what this kid can do.

[quote=Flasteel]The impact I'm hoping to see is that we place [b]a stronger emphasis on getting Willie on the outside edge,[/b] where he is obviously more effective. Last season we continually sent him right up the gut and he seemed determined to try and pound it between the tackles rather than bounce it outside if nothing was there (which was usually the case). Not that Mendenhall doesn't have the ability to get to the edge and break off long runs, but if he can fill the inside niche, our staff will hopefully design more plays for Parker off-tackle.[/quote]



Bingo! Does not the longest run in SB history tell the Arians where is the most effective pathway to get our "HomeRunHitter" the ball. The outside is where you have the space. Give Willie the space and some good downfield blocking and away he goes. Mendenhall will be great for the pounding the plays that require running between the tackles. This article is a great read and yet another reason why I'm pumped about this upcoming season.

I think the with the addition of Mendenhall, FWP will be much fresher and will show us his "game-breaking" skills that has been lacking recently. FWP is a dynamic RB that can take it to the house at any given time, so with fresher legs, and hopefully making it a priority to get him the ball in space, he may actually put up better numbers than if he was the primary ball carrier.

Either way, I am excited Ben is at the helm of what should be a very very explosive offense.

[quote=asiansteel][quote=Flasteel]The impact I'm hoping to see is that we place [b]a stronger emphasis on getting Willie on the outside edge,[/b] where he is obviously more effective. Last season we continually sent him right up the gut and he seemed determined to try and pound it between the tackles rather than bounce it outside if nothing was there (which was usually the case). Not that Mendenhall doesn't have the ability to get to the edge and break off long runs, but if he can fill the inside niche, our staff will hopefully design more plays for Parker off-tackle.[/quote]



Bingo! Does not the longest run in SB history tell the Arians where is the most effective pathway to get our "HomeRunHitter" the ball. The outside is where you have the space. Give Willie the space and some good downfield blocking and away he goes. Mendenhall will be great for the pounding the plays that require running between the tackles. This article is a great read and yet another reason why I'm pumped about this upcoming season.[/quote]

Wasn't that SB run a little off-tackle trap or maybe Faneca just pulled and led Willie though the hole? But, once Willie cleared the line he took it outside and to the HOUSE!

Pappy

[quote=papillon][quote=asiansteel][quote=Flasteel]The impact I'm hoping to see is that we place [b]a stronger emphasis on getting Willie on the outside edge,[/b] where he is obviously more effective. Last season we continually sent him right up the gut and he seemed determined to try and pound it between the tackles rather than bounce it outside if nothing was there (which was usually the case). Not that Mendenhall doesn't have the ability to get to the edge and break off long runs, but if he can fill the inside niche, our staff will hopefully design more plays for Parker off-tackle.[/quote]



Bingo! Does not the longest run in SB history tell the Arians where is the most effective pathway to get our "HomeRunHitter" the ball. The outside is where you have the space. Give Willie the space and some good downfield blocking and away he goes. Mendenhall will be great for the pounding the plays that require running between the tackles. This article is a great read and yet another reason why I'm pumped about this upcoming season.[/quote]

Wasn't that SB run a little off-tackle trap or maybe Faneca just pulled and led Willie though the hole? But, once Willie cleared the line he took it outside and to the HOUSE!

Pappy[/quote]


Faneca indeed, pulled and set Willie free. The outside is Willlie's bread and butter. Blocking schemes that set him up for these type of runs, need to happen.... especially when you look at our WRs ability to block.