Last season, the only people annoyed by the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense were the fans watching the game. Look no further than this list of stats that Warren Sharp compiled in his new 2024 Football Preview book.
According to Mina Kimes, the annoyed party could shift from the fans to the opposing defenses in 2024 with some of the changes the Steelers made this offseason.
“If I’m Arthur Smith, I think about what I did with Marcus Mariota on the ground, and when the Falcons had one of the most dominant rushing attacks in football that season,” Kimes said via the NFL Daily podcast with Gregg Rosenthal. “I look at what Justin Fields is capable of, and like you said, what the rest of the backs and the line, I mean, there’s a recipe there for an offense that is really, really annoying for defenses.”
Part of her argument was centered on Fields possibly winning the starting job, but she was speaking to the bigger picture of the run-first offense that the Steelers figure to employ under Smith. With as good as the Steelers’ defense is projected to be, the offense doesn’t need to take great risks. They are built to possess the ball, not make mistakes, and let the defense set them up for success.
That has been the game plan for the last few seasons, only the defense dealt with injuries last season, and the offense was being operated by QB Kenny Pickett and OC Matt Canada. Even still, the Steelers managed a 10-7 record following that blueprint. What can they accomplish if the offense holds up its end of the bargain?
Executing a play correctly starts with the big guys up front, and the Steelers have completely transformed their offensive line over the last two or three offseasons. They spent three of their first five picks on that unit in the 2024 NFL Draft. The talent level has increased tremendously on that unit, but there will likely be an adjustment period where the young players struggle as most rookies do.
Jaylen Warren is fully ramped up into a 50-50 snap share with Najee Harris, and they will be running behind a much more physical offensive line. Zach Frazier and Troy Fautanu are both maulers in the run game and Broderick Jones has a year of experience to build on some of the flashes of greatness from his rookie season.
There’s little question that Russell Wilson and Justin Fields are an upgrade over Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph, so that will open up some options for the offense. Play-action passing should be a big part of their success to build off the successful rushing attack they have, and WR George Pickens led the league in yards per receptions last season. The Steelers added a few speedsters to the WR room, so Wilson’s deep ball should hit several explosive plays this year.
With the potential for a specialized package for Fields, defensive coordinators have a lot to think about when it comes to stopping this new-look offense.
A conservative, ball-control offense that is capable of hitting the ocassional big play should pair perfectly with the defense and make the Steelers a true annoyance to opposing teams.
