The Steelers were such a difficult team against which to run the ball back in the early part of the 2000s that many opponents just didn't try to do so.
The same is happening this season with the Jacksonville Jaguars (5-2), who travel to Acrisure Stadium Sunday to play the Steelers (4-2).
The Jaguars are allowing just 80.6 yards rushing per game and only 3.6 yards per rushing attempt.
As a result, opponents are throwing the ball 65.8 percent of the time against the Jaguars. Only Philadelphia (67.5 percent) and San Francisco (70.2) have seen a greater percentage of passes thus far this season.
But that doesn't mean the Steelers, who have a 58-42 pass-to-run ratio this season, won't try to run the ball against the Jaguars. They want to stay balanced on offense.
"It's important to do that," Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada said Thursday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex of trying to stay balanced on offense. "But, obviously, they're a team that's certainly built for that. They've got a really, really good front. They've invested in that, and they're really good players and they're committed to trying to get you to do that.
"It's a combination of both. You've got to take what the defense gives you to a point, and then you also want to be a team that runs the ball. So it will be a big challenge. That is a really good defensive unit. A lot of good players, especially up front."
The Jaguars have only allowed three opponents this season to top 100 rushing yards on them this season. The Steelers, meanwhile, have topped 100 rushing yards just twice this season.
But for the Steelers, the running game has been more about the quality of their rushing attempts than it is the quantity.
For example, in last Sunday's 24-17 win over the Rams, the Steelers only rushed for 86 yards on 29 attempts. But quarterback Kenny Pickett accounted for no yards on eight rushing attempts because of four kneel downs, hurting the team's overall average.
The Steelers have their first three rushing touchdowns of the season in the game and also ran the ball 16 times for 52 yards in the fourth quarter when they outgained the Rams, 190-20, in total yards.
"You started to have some efficiency, when we started to execute at the level that we kind of want to do and started to see that it was really good for how they feed off each other in terms of balance," said Canada.
The key against the Jaguars could be not falling into the trap of just simply passing every down because that's what's available. Though Jacksonville has been stout against the run, the Jaguars are 31st in passing yards allowed, giving up 273.9 yards per game.
They have been opportunistic, however, intercepting nine passes, which ranks second in the NFL to San Francisco.
So, keeping running backs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren involved in the running game could limit the opportunities for the Jaguars, who lead the NFL with 16 forced turnovers, to get the interceptions on which they seem to thrive.
"I think those guys obviously work off each other and you know, they're both running hard playing hard and have skill sets that are a little bit different," Canada said of Harris and Warren. "But we certainly can run the same plays with them both. We might lean more to one, in one blocking scheme than we do with one or the other. But as far as a whole, they both do everything that we do and stay fresh and playing well. We're fortunate to have two good backs."
Harris and Warren have split running back duties this season, with Harris playing 53.7 percent of the offensive snaps compared to 45.2 percent for Warren. Harris also has 85 total touches (runs plus receptions) for 352 yards, while Warren has 62 for 321.
•Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here: Apple Podcast | iHeart Podcast
The key will be providing enough scoring early in the game to be able to stick with the running game. The Steelers were able to stay close enough against the Rams, trailing 17-10 going into the fourth quarter, that they could utilize their rushing attack in the final period.
But if they fall behind by a big margin, that takes being balanced out of the equation.
"All we're trying to do is win, so as long as we get to that point it's good," Canada said. "We obviously want to be better early in the game, late in the game, middle of the game, but we'll just keep working at it."
