The Pittsburgh Steelers ranked out the No. 20 most effective running game in the league a season ago after gaining a total of 1,667 yards that equated to just over 104 yards per game. Linemakers at online sportsbooks look to be bullish on Mike Tomlin’s troops improving upon those outputs this upcoming season with James Connor putting forth a large share of the production. Entering his second full season as the Steelers bell cow running back, the former PITT Panther finds his rushing yards prop clocking in at 1100.5. A big boost for him considering No. 30 only managed to rush for 973 yards a short season ago. However, that yardage was accrued in only 13 games of which 12 were started. Though key cogs to the offensive machine are now playing for other teams, the main constant in Pittsburgh continues to be the hogs up front. Should Connor avoid the injury bug this time around, he’ll be in line for his biggest showing at the NFL level.
Total Rushing Yards: 1100.5
Offensive Philosophy
To show just how efficient Pittsburgh was running the football, it was still able to crank out nearly 1,700 yards even though it ran the ball a near league-low 32.6 percent of the time; only the Green Bay Packers ran the ball less. One can only deduce that Pittsburgh was predominantly a passing team in doing so over 67 percent of the time. Again, the Packers were the only team to sling the pigskin around the ball yard more than the yellow and black.
However, Antonio Brown is no longer on the roster and with him goes 104 receptions. While JuJu Smith-Schuster is one of the best receivers in the game and James Washington along with Donte Moncrief will also look to make up for his absence, it’s pretty safe to assume Randy Fichtner will devise game plans geared more towards the run this upcoming season. It only makes perfect sense with Pittsburgh’s offensive line rated as the third best unit in the league per the folks at Pro Football Focus.
Pittsburgh Steelers Football Schedule
Week 1: @Patriots
Week 2: Seahawks
Week 3: @49ers
Week 4: Bengals
Week 5: Ravens
Week 6: @Chargers
Week 7: Bye Week
Week 8: Dolphins
Week 9: Colts
Week 10: Rams
Week 11: @Browns
Week 12: @Bengals
Week 13: Browns
Week 14: @Cardinals
Week 15: Bills
Week 16: @Jets
Week 17: @Ravens
Schedule Breakdown
Bolstering the idea of Connor breaking out in 2019-20 is the fact that he gets the pleasure of running up against the second easiest schedule for opposing running backs. It’s seriously a cakewalk when taking last year’s defensive outputs against the run into account! The division rival Ravens check in as the toughest opponent on the slate, but who knows how Baltimore defends the run with all the defections incurred on that side of the ball this past offseason. Pittsburgh also gets the pleasure of running up against the two worst run defenses from a year ago in the Bengals and Cardinals, and neither franchise looks to have done much to rectify that situation entering the new season.
Connor will no doubt play a large role in the Steelers ground attack, but he could cede a number of carries to Jaylen Samuels as well as rookie Benny Snell Jr. whom Pittsburgh used a fourth round pick to acquire his services. Still, the opportunity will be there for Pittsburgh’s lead back to demolish his rushing yards prop at top rated sportsbooks.
The Bets
As much as I want to think Pittsburgh will attempt to become more balanced offensively with AB no longer on the roster, it’s tough to envision; especially with Big Ben still under center. The veteran might have a ton of miles on his frame to this point of his career, but he can still stretch the field with the best of them having thrown for a league-high 5,129 yards just last season.
The fact that Connor broke down at the tail end of 2018 after incurring his heaviest workload as a professional also has me leery of banking on him not only surpassing the 1,000 yard threshold, but doing so by a minimum of 101 yards. Samuels is certain to eat into his work after proving to be more than replacement level in rushing for 256 yards and a 4.6 yard per carry average in the three games started in his absence.
We’re looking at a committee backfield in the Steel City folks. While Connor will no doubt get the lion’s share of carries, his backups are likely to see ample work as well. With that, I don’t envision him being able to best the mark bestowed upon him in the futures market.
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