The Pittsburgh Steelers offense has been lackluster at best through their first two games, only managing two offensive touchdowns. In the team’s 26-22 win over the Cleveland Browns last night, they didn’t run a single play inside Cleveland’s 30-yard line. It’s just been an ugly performance from the offense, and Mike Tomlin thinks it’s time for the group to get its “mojo back.”
“Offensively, we have to get our mojo back. We have to get the mojo that we had in the preseason, where we’re playing fast and fluid with confidence. Individually and collectively, we’ve lost that, to be blunt, in the last several weeks,” Tomlin said Tuesday during his weekly press conference via Steelers.com.
The Steelers’ offensive starters had five offensive touchdowns in all five of their drives in the preseason, but the preseason is long gone. The group we’ve seen over the first two regular-season games has been far from the group that torched the Buffalo Bills defense with two quick touchdowns back in August. Tomlin outlined some reasons the offense has been bad.
“We’re not getting the type of fluidity that we want in our starts, we’re not teeing up possession-down play, not being in advantageous possession down circumstances, really making it challenging to sustain drives and to score points,” he said.
The slow starts on offense have been a problem, with the Steelers failing to pick up a first down until the second quarter in both of their games so far. QB Kenny Pickett is making the wrong decisions and forcing passes, and the group just doesn’t look confident in itself at all. They need to find that confidence and play with the swagger that had Pickett walking off the field like Connor McGregor in the preseason.
Confidence and mojo can be a powerful thing. Just ask Dr. Evil. The Pittsburgh offense has talent. It’s not as if there’s a lack of pieces in place for those players to succeed. Pickett looked better last year than he has this year, so there’s obvious room for improvement. George Pickens is looking to ascend into one of the better receivers in football, and on paper, the line should be better than it was last year. It’s a confidence problem.
The play-calling isn’t helping either, with some truly head-scratching decisions made by Matt Canada. But the execution just hasn’t been there, either. Mason Cole talked about it last night. The offensive line hasn’t executed well in the run game at all, making the Steelers a one-dimensional team. That’s putting them in bad possession-down situations, second and third and longs, and it’s not doing the team any favors.
Pickett has the potential to be a good quarterback, but if every defense knows the Steelers can’t run the ball, he’s put in some tough situations and tries to force the ball. It’s a mistake a lot of young quarterbacks make, but it’s not one that can continue to happen.
With the Las Vegas Raiders on deck on Sunday Night Football, the Steelers need to find their mojo on offense and get some confidence. They have three games left before their bye, and if the offense can pick things up and build some momentum heading into the bye, they’ll be in good shape. But they need to get that mojo. If it’s powerful enough to defeat a super-villain, it’s certainly powerful enough to put some points up on the Raiders’ defense.
