So how did we figure out how to run the ball after the bye last year, and can't run..

[*jason*]

(12-08-2020, 06:44 PM)fredtoast Wrote: First half of the season we played the 24th ranked run defense (Arizona) and the 28th (Jacksonville) and we only had a combined 141 rushing yards in those two games.  So our success the second half of the season was obviously not based on just weaker run defense.


We did play the Browns twice in the second half of the season and in both of those games we gained more rushing yards than 11 of their other 14 opponents.  We are not the only team that played weak defenses and we did better against the Browns weak run defense than all but three other teams.

We rushed for 164 yards against New England's #6 ranked rush defense, and it was not just because it was a blowout.  Why did the Steelers only get 33 rush yards in a 30 point loss, or the Dolphins 42 in a 43 point loss, or the Jets an average of 57 in two losses by a combined 63-14?

You also ignore the fact that the Raiders had the #8 rush defense in the league and we rushed for 173 against them in a close game.  Only one other team ran for more yards against them all season.

Didn't we run the ball down Arizona's throat on the first drive of that game last year? I'm pretty sure we did. Then we abandoned the run, and didn't target a TE against a team that was putrid at covering them.