Outside of a few instances, the offense of the Pittsburgh Steelers has struggled to do anything well to start the 2023 season. It’s evident by the eye test, and the statistics back it up. The Steelers have the fifth-fewest passing yards, the third-fewest first downs gained on passing plays, the third-fewest rushing yards, the fourth-lowest yards per carry, and are tied for the seventh-fewest first downs gained on the ground in the league. If you pick an offensive statistic, the odds are in your favor that Pittsburgh will be bottom 10 in the league if not the bottom five.
Now where the blame rests for the offensive failures is debated fiercely. A lot of people blame embattled offensive coordinator Matt Canada. Others blame execution, and yet others point fingers directly at QB Kenny Pickett. When former Super Bowl champion offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth joined the Cook and Joe Show on 93.7 the Fan Tuesday, he highlighted the struggling run game and its lack of identity as one of the main culprits of the offense’s woes.
“They struggled to really find an identity to who they were,” Whitworth said. “I go back to my time playing them, and really the style of what they were. And then as it kind of evolved and then Le’Veon Bell came along and saw these duos and downhill runs and a big, massive offensive line to now being in that ‘tweener’ world of do a bunch of different things. I’m not really sure they’ve really mastered one single thing that it’s like ‘This is who we are, this is the run we’ll hang our hat on and be really good at…’ I think teams get a little too caught up in we gotta have so many different runs instead of something we really find we’re just good at and we build our offense around that.”
A struggling run game can have a number of root causes. It can be schematic issues, play-calling issues, offensive line issues, or really any combination of those. Whitworth points out that when he’s watched the Steelers play, it looks like they are trying to do too many things running the ball. He says they aren’t trying to identify a style of rushing attack to lean on. That can manifest itself as issues with the offensive line. Some offensive linemen are more athletic and can block on the move, while others are more physical and better at lining up to push defensive linemen backward.
So if you are asking physical linemen to move sideways to block in gaps or asking athletic linemen to fire off the ball and engage the linemen in front of them, it’s not playing to those players’ strengths. Is Canada calling plays that cater to his linemen’s strengths in the running game? Well, based on Pro Football Focus’ grades for the 20-10 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars this past Sunday, either Canada isn’t calling good plays or some of the offensive linemen just are not very good. C Mason Cole, for example, only graded out at a 37.0 run-blocking performance.
In fact, only one offensive lineman received a good overall grade for Sunday’s performance, and that was RT Chukwuma Okorafor, but even his run-blocking grade was only 65.7. The Steelers have a serious issue in the running game, and it needs to be addressed via the scheme and play calling. It’s going to be nearly impossible to upgrade the talent level of the line at this point in the season. So Canada and offensive line coach Pat Meyer really need to figure out what their players do best and put them in the best situations possible to help get the offense moving in the right direction.
After all, a struggling run game only serves to put more pressure on the quarterback.
“You go look and it’s like they’re gaining zero yards in the run game,” Whitworth said. “That means that everything’s on this quarterback to make it happen. And I just think when it’s a young quarterback and we’re saying, ‘Hey, we’re not gonna gain anything on the run game and we’re gonna ask you to get all our yards for us in your decision-making, your accuracy, and everything else.’ That’s a lot to put on these young guys.”
Just because QB Kenny Pickett is struggling badly right now and missing throws he should make doesn’t mean he’s a failure. He’s in a situation where yards and a rhythm are hard to come by thanks in part to a struggling run game. The Steelers should be doing everything in their collective power to protect and help Pickett, but more often than not, they’re asking everything of him. Getting a consistent run game going would do wonders for both Pickett and the offense.
