Have you ever seen that meme of a stick figure pointing to something on the ground saying, “C’mon, do something?” Well, if you are a Steelers fan, nothing better describes how the fan base as well as the rest of the NFL feels right now about the state of Pittsburgh’s offense than this graphic.
Pittsburgh’s offense has been hard to watch through two games to start the 2023 season. Be it strings of three-and-outs, a poor running game, a shaky quarterback, or bad play calling, the offense simply hasn’t been acceptable relative to expectations for this unit. We saw flashes of it in the preseason, but those flashes have all but dried up outside of a couple of big plays here and there.
The cast of GMFB on NFL Network talked about Pittsburgh’s offense ahead of the Steelers’ Week Three matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday night. Former NFL DB Jason McCourty kept it pretty straightforward regarding what he needs to see from Pittsburgh in this matchup.
“We keep talking about offenses and the Pittsburgh Steelers, they were chanting ‘Fire Canada’ the last home game,” McCourty said on GMFB. “They won that game, but hey, Kenny Pickett, Matt Canada, figure something out. Throw the ball to George Pickens. I don’t care if you are putting Jaylen Warren, Najee Harris… get the running game going. Find a way to do something on offense because the defense is creating turnovers, making plays, scoring touchdowns in this last game. The offense has to wake up. They have to do something.”
Just do something. Anything. Regardless of what Pittsburgh decides to do, all the Steelers need to do is act rather than sitting on what obviously hasn’t been working. OC Matt Canada admitted yesterday while speaking to the media that he isn’t sure how exactly the offense can get its mojo back, telling the media to let him know if any of them has an answer to Pittsburgh’s current problems. It was a bit of a sarcastic answer as Canada does know that his play calling must be better as well as the execution of his players. Regardless, knowing that is step one. Acting on it and making necessary changes to influence a positive change is step two.
It’s time for Pittsburgh to reach step two in this process and stop lingering on the problems. McCourty is right when saying that Pittsburgh doesn’t need to make this a complex process, rather find something that the offense can do well and build and execute on it. We saw that happen last season as Pittsburgh struggled on offense going into the bye week, committing to a power run game that helped lead the Steelers to a strong finish on the season. They are set up to do the same thing this season, having two quality backs in Harris and Warren as well as the offensive line to get the job done on the ground if they work through those errors that have plagued them thus far.
The Steelers could choose to run the ball 35 times a game. They could look to give Pickens 10 targets. They could actually start using TE Pat Freiermuth more in the passing game. Ultimately, they need to just do something because offensively, they don’t have an identity right now. Pickett said just as much this week, stating the need to find it heading into the Raiders game. With Las Vegas struggling against the run and with Pickett being shaky as a passer to start the season, perhaps the best course of action would be to have Pittsburgh go back to a power run game like it did last season. That would help ease the pressure on Pickett as the ground game can control the clock and establish drives to get this offense going in the right direction.
