The Steelers only ran the ball with a running back 14 times against the Buffalo.
The Bills stacked the box and dared the Steelers to throw and Pittsburgh obliged.
43 drop backs with Devlin Hodges at QB is not a recipe for success.
Sure, the Steelers had to throw the ball on 14 of 15 plays late because they were down by a touchdown. The Steelers were in that whole in part because they were too pass happy early.
The Steelers threw it 67 percent of the time last year with Ben Roethlisberger at QB. 64 percent with Hodges? I don't care if the entire cast of "Succession" is in the box, you can't throw the ball THAT much.
What's wrong with running the ball and punting? The Steelers offense's job this year isn't to win a track meet, it's to not screw it up. The more throwing with Hodges/Rudolph, the more likely they screw it up.
I'm worried that the Steelers will throw it too much against the Jets. They have the best rush defense in the league in terms of yards per carry allowed. They're second in yards per game allowed on the ground.
The Steelers need to be conservative. I'm not saying that Duck Hodges shouldn't get to throw it at all. But, I do think that Mike Tomlin was barking up the right tree when he talked earlier in the year about "limiting the (young QB's) exposure to the defense."
Run the ball. If it leads to more punts, fine. Turning the ball over is suicide for this offense. They're more likely to do that when throwing the thing.