Mason Cole says Steelers were scared to stick to run game vs. Texans

On Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers offense once again failed to get on track, this time against the Houston Texans. Pittsburgh lost to the Texans 30-6. Despite rushing for 114 yards, the run game was grossly inconsistent. After the game, center Mason Cole had some insight about it.

When Cole was asked about the problems with the run game, he noted that the team would have some success running the ball, but as soon as they got stopped, they seemed scared to stick to the run.

“There’s times we’re running the ball really well, then one bad or negative run will scare us away from it,” Cole said after the game.

Who was scared? When we first heard the comment, we wondered if he was talking about offensive coordinator Matt Canada. But maybe he was talking about himself and his teammates. It really felt like Pittsburgh was playing without any real drive or heart. There was very little second effort, and that was giving them the benefit of the doubt that the team gave that initial effort.