Steelers Rashard Mendenhall: Dancing Too Much? Not So Fast!

After coming off a career year, many Steelers fans were giddy to see Rashard Mendenhall improve upon those numbers. In 2010, he ran for 1273 yards on 324 rushes for an average of 3.9 per pop. Most impressive was his staggering 13 touchdowns. In the preseason, I recall several people gushing about how much faster and tougher Rashard looked. Certainly, this season would be another good one, right?

So far this year, things for Mendenhall have been rough. He is averaging just 3.0 yards per carry for and a miserable 43.3 yards per game. As far as starting RBs go, that 3.0 is only better than Titans RB Chris Johnson (2.9). Ouch. The argument before this game was that the offensive line just was not opening holes up for him. I saw with my own eyes a few times where he was hit in the backfield before taking two steps with the ball. Clearly, he is frustrated. The question is, is his frustration causing him to try to do too much? Would his numbers look better if he squared up and hit the hole with authority? It cannot be completely the OL when both Isaac Redman and Mewelde Moore had solid days with YPCs above 6.5, can it? Let's take a look at all 9 of Rashard's carries and find the culprit.

http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2011/10/3/2466542/steelers-rashard-mendenhall-dancing-too-much-not-so-fast

Good post, fer! A nice breakdown of the running plays and how they unfolded. I still think there's something off with Mendenhall though. He doesn't seem to be able to create anything for himself or break tackles often. I still think Redman does a better job of those things and will help our offense more with the way this O-line is playing right now.

It still gives me hope that if and when we get this O-line situation sorted out and they can perform as a cohesive and effective unit, that Mendy will start busting some nice runs out for us in the future.

I agree that the analysis is pretty good. There is still some indecision there on Mendy's part and he just doesn't seem to want to pound the ball. (of course he really is not that type of runner.) That's why right now we need Redman carrying the ball. Maybe the FO is afraid that they will have to "PAY THE MAN" at the end of the season. Either way I vote for Redman for now. A pounder can hide a lot of defects in line play. Plus if they have to respect the run it opens up play action for Ben. It's obvious he's not going to get any time to throw the ball soon and it's not like he can scramble with one foot.