The Pittsburgh Steelers are getting healthy rather quickly on the offensive side of the football ahead of their Week Seven road trip to Los Angeles to take on the Rams at SoFi Stadium.
Names like wide receiver Diontae Johnson, tight end Pat Freiermuth, running back Anthony McFarland Jr. and right guard James Daniels are all expected to return to the lineup after various lengths of absences early in the season.
The return of those key pieces has offensive coordinator Matt Canada looking forward to having more weapons in the arsenal of the Steelers’ offense, which should force teams to respect the Steelers’ offense down the field moving forward.
Speaking with reporters Thursday from the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on the South Side, Canada said that the availability of players like Johnson and Freiermuth will allow the Steelers to get back to what they wanted to do offensively while forcing defenses to adapt to who is on the field and in what instances.
“With Diontae back, you mentioned Ant [McFarland], you get those guys back, you have George [Pickens] out there and you get Pat back, we’ve got some more weapons, which you have to respect down the field,” Canada said to reporters, according to video via 93.7 The Fan on Twitter. “Having speed all around — Calvin [Austin III] is obviously fast — we have some guys that we think can really run. And then having Allen [Robinson II] inside, adding some guys back brings us more to our full arsenal and what we think we can do and can be on offense.
“Not necessarily major play differences, but certainly a difference in how defenses have to adapt to who we have out there. I think those guys certainly draw some attention.”
Getting the likes of Johnson and Freiermuth back healthy should add more to a passing game that has been rather poor in the first half of the season. Sure, the Steelers have hit some big plays, like Pickens’ 71-yard touchdown against the Cleveland Browns in Week Two and the 41-yard game-winning touchdown against the Baltimore Ravens in Week Five, not to mention Austin’s 72-yard touchdown against the Raiders. But outside of those, throwing the football has been a struggle more often than not for the Steelers.
Johnson and Freiermuth can help with that, not only in their ability to get open consistently and make plays, but simply through their presence as well, drawing attention from the defense from a coverage standpoint, as Canada alluded to.
Granted, Johnson and Freiermuth aren’t going to be the cure-all for an offense that has really had its issues this season, putting Canada under fire, but having those two Pro Bowl-caliber players back in the fold offensively is a big boost. That’ll free up things elsewhere, whether that’s from a personnel or from a coverage standpoint, which should help the Steelers better attack defenses moving forward.
At least, that’s the hope.
