Pittsburgh’s run game was a key to victory against the Vikings in Dublin.
The Steelers enjoyed their best rushing performance of the year so far in Sunday’s 24-21 win over the Minnesota Vikings with 131 team yards on the ground.
Kenneth Gainwell, starting at running back in place of the injured Jaylen Warren, logged 99 rushing yards with a season-best 5.2 yards per carry and two touchdowns. The Steelers’ ground game was rolling.
Following the game, PFF released its snap counts, and the offensive numbers backed up the eye test: The Steelers were prioritizing putting big bodies on the field on offense.
It was Darnell Washington who received the most snaps of a Steelers tight end on Sunday (48/53), far more than Connor Heyward’s 16, Pat Freiermuth’s 15, or Jonnu Smith’s 13.
Guard Spencer Anderson also saw a notable increase, logging 19 snaps on offense in the win with many coming as a jumbo-package extra offensive tackle.
“I thought Spence was a good player for us today and was a good addition,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said following the game. “I thought (offensive coordinator Arthur Smith) did a nice job of mixing in the heavy personnel sets where Spencer was playing tight end for us, and we had some effectiveness running the football out of those sets, which was great.”
The change in offensive philosophy was also evident in the wide receiver snaps, with Ben Skowronek playing 18 — the team’s WR3 versus Minnesota.
For reference, last week against the Patriots, the Steelers played just one more offensive snap at 54. But Washington played just 20 snaps and Anderson and Skowronek each recorded four. Jonnu Smith (45 snaps) and Freiermuth (38) saw more playing time than Washington.
However, Sunday’s win over the Vikings showed that Arthur Smith can succeed when mixing up his gameplan .
“I thought we ran the ball well, and that kind of kept them off balance,” Rodgers said after the game.
Category: General Sports
