Pittsburgh Steelers Run Game Will Take a Backseat to Ben Roethlisberger in 2012

The Pittsburgh Steelers had the 14th ranked rushing game last season and it didn’t even seem like it was that high during the year.

The Steelers did not have a 100-yard rusher in 13 of their games last season, and in six of those games they didn’t even accumulate 100 yards as a team. Now that the offensive line has been improved this offseason, it’s not expected that the running game will continue to be so poor.

That being said, the Steelers will definitely be known as a passing team with the focus obviously being on QB Ben Roethlisberger. Ben is an elite quarterback in this league and should be considered the No. 1 QB in the NFL with the way he plays.

He can literally throw defenders off of him, which he has had to do regularly with the Steelers offensive line, and he can sit in the pocket and pick apart a defense.

With the departures of Jerome Bettis and Willie Parker, and the ineptitude that was Bruce Arians, the Steelers run game hasn’t looked right for a few years.

Although Rashard Mendenhall looked like he was poised to continue the rushing tradition for the Steelers, he is coming off a terrible year along with his knee injury that will most likely keep him out for most of this season.

Even with the change in offensive coordinators, the Steelers’ offense is still centered around Ben and the passing game no matter who the running back is.

I have full confidence that the combination of Isaac Redman, Jonathan Dwyer, Baron Batch and Chris Rainey will do a great job this upcoming season, however, the offense still goes as far as Ben takes it.

Ben is in his prime and I expect nothing short of a great season from him and the rest of the Steelers team in 2012.