This season, Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell has been almost supernaturally good. He has six rushing touchdowns, has almost five yards a carry and is averaging over 100 yards per game. In Week 14, he had a whopping 236 rushing yards against the Buffalo Bills.
His lowest rushing total? Week 9 against the Baltimore Ravens — 32 yards.
And now the Steelers are heading into a Week 16 must-win Christmas Day battle against the Ravens for supremacy in the AFC North. So, what has to change in Pittsburgh’s run game in this second meeting to help Bell and the Steelers get the “W”?
Bell is one of the — if not the — most patient runner(s) in the game. He’s great at setting up his blocks and blasting through when there’s a hole. He’s smart. He’s got great vision. He’s incredibly strong — and his brawny run game helps him break tackles and get extra yards after first contact.
Baltimore defensive coordinator said of Bell, “There’s really nobody that has his style that I’ve ever seen.”
In six meetings against Baltimore, Bell hasn’t had great games. He’s averaging under 70 yards per game and has just two touchdowns. He’s only broken the 100-yard plane once, last season in Week 5 when he had 129 yards.
When the Steelers and Ravens last met, Baltimore shut the running back down; Bell had just seven yards after first contact on 14 carries. (As a whole, the Ravens kept Pittsburgh from crossing the 50-yard line for the first three and a half quarters of the game.) And stopping him was a total team effort. On his 20 touches, he was tackled by four different defensive linemen, five different linebackers, two different safeties and one cornerback.
The Ravens run a 3-4 defense, much like the Steelers do, but Baltimore uses similar gap principles as a 4-3 defense. While the whole defense has been one of the NFL’s best this season, Baltimore’s line is especially nasty. Nose tackle Brandon Williams — a behemoth of a man at 6’1”, 340 pounds — has quietly been one of the best in the league over the last few years. He penetrates well out of the three-technique spot and is third among nose tackles in total tackles (46).
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin called Williams “the central figure in why they’ve been so stout against the run.” He continued: “This guy routinely requires two people to block him, but even when you assign two people to him, very rarely is there movement.” Williams is exceptional at penetrating after being doubled.
The Ravens also get a lot of help from their linebackers, who do a good job of penetrating when Williams is double-teamed.
In the last meeting, the Steelers were hampered some by injury. Right tackle Marcus Gilbert was just coming back from an ankle injury (he missed the previous three games), and center Maurkice Pouncey sat out much of the game with a finger injury. Against a run defense like the Ravens’, missing Pouncey (who is a five-time Pro Bowler) and having Gilbert making his way back into the game make it hard to scrounge up a win is hard.
Pittsburgh has a stellar offensive line, and it’ll be completely healthy in this second bloodbath between these two teams. The combo of Pouncey, Gilbert, Ramon Foster, Alejandro Villanueva and David DeCastro should create some problems for the Ravens. The Dallas Cowboys have a line similar to the Steelers, and against Baltimore, Dallas running back Ezekiel Elliott, who is averaging 103.4 yards on the season, had 97 yards. (As a whole, the Cowboys had 118 rushing yards.)
Baltimore is coming off a game versus the Philadelphia Eagles where the Ravens yielded 169 rushing yards (128 yards and a touchdown to running back Ryan Mathews). Those 169 yards are more than double the rushing yards Baltimore had allowed this season on average (75.5) heading into the game.
So what did the Eagles do so successfully, and what can Bell and the Steelers learn from their fellow Pennsylvania team?
The Eagles employed a stretch-zone run scheme and did a good job of reaching the Ravens’ linebackers and cutting them off on the backside.
Philadelphia’s high-tempo offense also tired out Baltimore’s big guys, which allowed the Eagles to wreck havoc as the game wore on.
Pittsburgh could do something similar.
But that means Pittsburgh absolutely HAS to get first downs. In recent weeks, the Steelers’ offensive play calling has been quite good. But the team has been relying on its balanced attack, which means Bell really needs to get going. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wide receiver Antonio Brown are perhaps the most lethal duo in the league, and the Ravens don’t have an especially great secondary, but to allow Brown to really do his thing (which is torching opposing defenses), Bell needs to have established himself in the game.
Against the Bills, Pittsburgh utilized its short passing game, which, in turn, set up the run.
That could be the key versus Baltimore.
Last time out, the Steelers hadn’t yet introduced their “big” blocking package, which features offensive lineman Chris Hubbard acting as an extra tight end when the team brings in fullback Roosevelt Nix. This has been extremely successful lately and could help Bell get past Williams and the rest of that monstrous Baltimore line.
Sunday’s game is an absolute must-win for both Pittsburgh and Baltimore. And if the Steelers want to clinch the AFC North, they’re going to do so thanks to one man: Le’Veon Bell.
