Opponents finding rare running success against Steelers

By Mark Kaboly

There was a time when teams wouldn't even try to run against the Steelers. It wasn't that long ago.

By the end of the 2010 season, opponents had all but given up thinking they could run against the Steelers. Cincinnati attempted only 12 runs in a December game, Cleveland 13 a few weeks later and Green Bay just 11 in Super Bowl XLV. That year, the Steelers set an NFL record (since the 1970 merger) for fewest rushing attempts against them with 333.

A lot has happened since then to a team that, in the past decade, has had a top-three run defense eight times.

This season, opponents are running more often and with greater success. They are breaking off long runs. And they are producing 100-yard rushers, something rarely allowed by the Steelers for a decade.

“That team (in 2010),” linebacker Larry Foote said, “we had Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton. … We had some guys that, I don't care who you were, you couldn't run against.”

Throw in James Harrison and James Farrior along with a younger Brett Keisel, and the Steelers didn't allow a 100-yard rusher or a run longer than 25 yards, and they let only two opponents rush for more than 100 yards.

Fast forward to 2013. The names have changed along the front seven, and so has the success against them.

Even after holding Buffalo, a solid running team, to 95 yards last week, the Steelers are 27th in the NFL against the run, giving up 127 yards per game. Opponents are averaging 10 more carries per game than three years ago. In addition, their yards-per-carry average and number of long plays have skyrocketed.

Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/5070054-74/run-steelers-yards#ixzz2kvQtd4oR

I wouldn't care if they gave up 200 yards per a game as long as they keep on winning.