A Noticeable Loss nobody is mentioning

[Oviedo]

Is it possible people are starting to see the value of Mendenhall a bit now? Redman is an average RB, with really no upside to feel overly confident he'll ever reach. He is what he is, and will never really be more than that.

Dwyer looks promising, but there seems to be some equally bad runs to go with his good ones. There is 'something' there, but with RB's having a very limited shelf life, and this being season 3 for Dwyer- starting to wonder if we'll ever see that talent materialise.

Baron Batch looks equally average. Maybe it's the coming back from the knee thing. Maybe it's just that he's a 7th round draft pick for a reason.

Rainey could be an effective RB if there was something resembling run blocking going on in Pittsburgh. Right now, not convinced we see that mythical beast in action ever. Starting to wonder if on our sweep plays the Steelers might be best served sending not only the pulling OG but the TE too.

It would be reminise (spell check) of Chadman to overlook the run blocking & their responsibility in the running games failure. Colon is struggling. Foster is struggling. Gilbert is struggling. Pouncey doesn't look overly dominant. Starks looks OK. Maybe adding DeCastro fixes everything & we turn from below average...or just plain bad... to All-Pro with his addition. There's a whole lot of beef on that OL. You would think they could simply stumble forward & create a hole. Apparently that is beyond this group as well.

For all his apparent faults, Mendenhall finds holes better than Dwyer, and makes something of the hole better than Redman through his speed. Steelers have missed him.

Hopefully Haley can use Mendy's hands too, and have him catching passes out of the backfield & putting him in space.

Agree with all this. Steelers fans want every RB to be like Bettis. Wait another generation because that is how often a guy like that comes along.

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

Agree with all this. Steelers fans want every RB to be like Bettis. Wait another generation because that is how often a guy like that comes along.

While Steelers fans like to reminisce about Bettis, I don't see them expecting every back to be him. However, looking around the league, we want a back who compares favorably to the top RBs in the game right now. Perhaps some of the blame is unfair due to the weak Oline he has run behind for the past few years, but looking at the production of others around the league, every hesitation to hit the hole becomes magnified.

[lloydroid]

Pretty well documented that Hines Ward was a good if not exceptional blocker. Our current crop of WRs don't seem to be getting the job done either on designed runs or on downfield blocking. Have you seen Wallace or Brown throw a jaw-breaking block on a LBer? I haven't. Why can't the Steelers seem to be able to run sweeps with the speed of Rainey?

You know what? Half of the blocks Hines thew would now get flagged. I don't know if you can blame it all on the WRs. Maybe the types of blocks Hines used to throw are now illegal. Well, not "maybe" - they are.

[NorthCoast]

I really don't see Mendy helping the running game. Mendy can be a great runner if there are holes or cutback lanes but like most runners he is bad if we can't open even a crease. It seems like most plays at least one or two lineman get pushed into the backfield and then guys come from the outside and make the tackle from behind.

You could have Jim Brown in his prime running behind this line and he wouldn't get very many yards. I was really hopeful that this year would be different ... and it may if the lineman can form some sort of chemistry as time goes on.

Throughout his career Mendenhall has rarely shown the ability to make the first tackler miss, or to break free. That's been missing in his game and is the difference between him and a Bettis or Rice. It's also a reason we end in 3rd and longs.

[fezziwig]

It's a nice plus to have a receiver/receivers to block down field for the team but, we shouldn't pin our run game hopes on that. Heck, our runningbacks hardly make it to the line let alone worring if they'll have any down field blocking.