With just one preseason game remaining, the Steelers' run-stop-the-run component isn't where they'll eventually want it but it's where they need it to be in mid-August.
"We don't try to trick anybody in the preseason or show your hand too much, things we may want to use Week One or Week Two," of the regular season, offensive coordinator Arthur Smith pointed out today.
"But just the basic stuff, there was improvement there from Week One to Week Two (in the preseason), and that was encouraging."
The Steelers gauge such progress on much more than just stats in games that don't matter, on both sides of the ball.
"You're not getting into any kind of crazy schemes," Smith continued. "You're trying to get good at the basics. And you're mixing lineups, too, in the preseason. But there's an expectation that's out there, it's things you've been working on. And sometimes it's just the small details, whether it's the tracks, the backs setting up their blocks, people hit their run pressures, you gotta have calls and adjustments to that.
"The other thing, sometimes early in the game, the first two runs (last Saturday night against Tampa Bay), for different reasons, weren't very productive. But that's why you make adjustments, make sure they're in tune to what they're doing. I thought it got going and that was good to see. We hit some 10-plus-yard runs. We had a couple 9-yard runs. You just want to see improvement and that progress."
Those first two runs in the Steelers' 17-14 preseason loss to the Buccaneers Smith referenced both resulted in gains of 1 yard by running back Kenneth Gainwell.
But by game's end the Steelers had turned 26 attempts into 130 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown (a 5.0 average per carry).
The ground game had accounted for 66 yards on 25 carries (a 2.6 average) in the Steelers' preseason-opening, 31-25 victory on Aug. 9 at Jacksonville.
Another factor in the ground game being in the oven rather than the microwave is the altered approach the Steelers are adopting this season.
"You're seeing a little more wide zone from us," Smith said.
There's also a desire to master one aspect of the ground game before moving on to the next.
"Before you move on you gotta be brilliant in the basics," Smith maintained. "If you try to put in 40 different run schemes, you're not gonna, probably, be good at anything."
The defense has allowed the Jaguars 3.9 yards per carry and the Buccaneers 1.7 through two preseason efforts.
But the influx of youth up front has defensive coordinator Teryl Austin confident the run defense isn't as effective now and it's going to be eventually.
"What I'm looking for, I told you I love the energy, but some of the things we're looking for, some of the individual work that (defensive line coach Karl) Dunbar does with them, all the things that he's working on to help them become good NFL players start to show up in games," Austin said. "And you kinda can see that in terms of their hand usage and block recognition.
"When you see some of that stuff show up in the game it means you're moving in the right direction. I think that's why we have confidence that those guys will be ready to play and contribute for us this year."
The draft-capital investment the Steelers made in rookie defensive end Derrick Harmon (first round), rookie outside linebacker Jack Sawyer (fourth round) and rookie defensive tackle Yahya Black (fifth round) was a direct response to the Steelers getting run over by the Ravens in the playoffs (Baltimore rushed for 299 yards in a 28-14 victory over the Steelers last Jan. 11 in Baltimore).
It's an investment the Steelers expect to continue paying dividends.
"That's a big reason we addressed the front," Austin acknowledged. "We wanted to make sure we got big, young guys to mix in. (Defensive tackle) Cam (Heyward) can't play everywhere. (Nose tackle) Keeanu (Benton) can't play every snap. But we have enough depth to be able to rotate those guys around and be able to keep our (inside) linebackers clean. And when our linebackers aren't clean, those guys are good enough to get off and make a play.
"We went and addressed those situations. It's just preseason right now but we feel confident in the way we're moving and the way those guys are growing. There's gonna be growing pains and there's gonna be times they probably get knocked around because this is the NFL. But we feel good about where those guys are gonna go and where they're gonna end up."
