Steve Palazzolo, better known as PFF Steve, joined Mina Kimes on her ESPN The Mina Kimes Show (Featuring Lenny) Wednesday to discus the state of the AFC North. Arguably the league’s toughest and closest division, Palazzolo expressed optimism for the Steelers’ offensive personnel. But he questioned the coordinator overseeing it all.
Palazzolo criticized Canada’s offense, saying it didn’t have enough “easy stuff” for the Steelers’ offense to accomplish.
“Pickett to Pickens has to be precise on back shoulders,” he told Kimes. “Then Kenny Pickett throws a seam route to Freiermuth and it’s like, ‘Woah, they have a middle of the field, that’s amazing.'”
He compared the Steelers’ offense to the San Francisco 49ers — head coach Kyle Shanahan learned from Canada there in college — but noted San Francisco made life much easier on its rookie QB Brock Purdy than Pittsburgh did for Pickett. Purdy was able to step in midseason and lead the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game before injuring his elbow and seeing his rookie season come to a close.
In 2022, the Steelers finished just 26th in scoring offense, 25th in yards per carry, and 23rd in red zone offense despite averaging the most offensive plays per drive of any team in the league. At its core, that’s an inefficient offense.
“There’s still not enough layups. There’s not enough easy stuff,” Palazzolo said. “Because personnel-wise, I think the Steelers are continuing to get better.”
So what is an NFL layup? It can be a bootleg that gains five yards on 1st and 10. It can be a simple mirrored zone/man beater that the quarterback can read and find the open man. It can be a more consistent run game to keep the offense on schedule on early downs.
Pittsburgh may have had some of that last season but definitely not enough. And some core concepts they leaned on, like their sprint out, wasn’t productive and done in wrong moments, 2nd and long instead of 3rd and short, that only hampered the Steelers’ offense all the more.
Palazzolo said Pickett and even Mitch Trubisky graded well last year in PFF’s rankings, meaning the fact that the offense still struggled to score points suggested something else was the issue.
“There’s still something missing there,” he said.
The Steelers improved their personnel this offseason with OG Isaac Seuamalo and OT Broderick Jones, and added key quality depth in OT Nate Herbig. At the skill positions, TE Darnell Washington was drafted, WR Allen Robinson II traded for, and WR Calvin Austin III returns healthy after missing his entire rookie year. The pieces are in place for Pittsburgh to succeed. Now, it’ll be up to Canada to execute.
Watch the whole episode below.
