No one would argue that Pittsburgh Steelers’ Head Coach Mike McCarthy favors the pass versus the run. Aaron Rodgers thrived in his offense winning a Super Bowl and two Most Valuable Player Awards. Dak Prescott largely thrived in McCarthy’s offense in Dallas when he wasn’t out due to injury. But even with the all the attention paid to the signal callers, McCarthy has a host of running backs who have also found success.
His Coordinator Days
McCarthy spent six seasons as an offensive coordinator in the NFL prior to becoming the head coach in Green Bay. His first five seasons were spent as the New Orleans Saints’ OC and then he was the OC in San Francisco for a year as well. Ricky Williams twice hit the 1,000 yard mark followed by Deuce McAllister accomplishing the feat three straight seasons. It was McCarthy’s only year in San Francisco that saw no running back not get to 1,000 yards under his guidance as a coordinator.
Green Bay Days
Oddly enough, some of the Packers’ best years under McCarthy, including the Super Bowl XLV season, did not see a 1,000 yard rusher. That said, McCarthy had three different guys excel. Ahman Green had one season over a thousand and then Ryan Grant and Eddie Lacy each had two seasons where they went over 1,000 yards.
Despite not reaching the treasured milestone, guys like Ty Montgomery and Jamaal Williams had productive seasons proving that McCarthy was able to use a number of different types of backs in his system.
Dallas Days
Although his stint in Big D was much shorter than his time in Wisconsin, McCarthy again proved that he could excel with different running backs. Tony Pollard twice went over the 1,000 yard mark while Ezekiel Elliott and Rico Dowdle each achieved the feat once. Elliott also had a season where he finished about 50 yards shy of a thousand as well.
Looking Ahead
McCarthy reunites with Dowdle in Pittsburgh who is likely to share time with Jaylen Warren. McCarthy has been fortunate during his coaching career to have worked with really good quarterbacks largely during the primes of their careers. Now he gets one of those guys back in Rodgers but he’ll be 43-years old during the season.
How will McCarthy change what he does to work with a much older and different Rodgers? Will he rely more on the running game or will he look to get the ball out of Rodgers’ hands even quicker than before? I would suggest it will be a combination of both but there’s also another major factor here. Regardless of what McCarthy wants to do, the progress of the offensive line will determine the fate of the entire offense moving forward.
NOTE: I realize 1,000 yards in a season isn’t what it once was with 17 games on the schedule now but I still use it as a barometer in cases like this.
