The game of football is simple. Score more points than the other team. If you do that, no matter how you accomplish it, you win. Point, blank, simple.
Cam Heyward doesn’t care how it happens, but he would like his team to score the most points this Sunday when the Pittsburgh Steelers take on the Cincinnati Bengals.
“Let’s just outscore them,” Heyward said on his Not Just Football podcast. “I don’t really care how it gets done. I’m in it for the wins not the stats.”
It’s a good thing he isn’t in it for the numbers because they haven’t been much to write home about. In all 10 of the team’s matchups this season, the Steelers have been outgained, and they have a point differential of minus-29, averaging 16.6 to their opponents’ 19.9. For those keeping track at home, that ranks near the bottom of the league behind the likes of the Los Angeles Rams (minus-25) and Atlanta Falcons (minus-28), two teams with records below .500. In fact, the Seattle Seahawks are the only other team in the NFL with a winning record while holding a negative point differential (minus-20), according to StatMuse.
In the same podcast, Heyward came to the defense of recently fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada, saying he won’t celebrate someone getting fired. Still Heyward did admit that improvement was needed on the team.
Maybe that will come with the elevation of running backs coach Eddie Faulkner to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan to play caller. Faulkner, who is highly thought of in the Steelers front office, is known in the locker room for his ability to motivate his players.
Sullivan is more the X’s and O’s guy as a former offensive coordinator himself having stints with both the New York Giants and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. More importantly, Sullivan has worked closely with starting quarterback Kenny Pickett, so maybe that synergy will lead to more points on the board.
The Steelers are counting on the yin and yang of Faulkner and Sullivan to straighten out this offense as we head toward the back half of the season. Pickett’s struggles have been well-documented, but the cupboard isn’t bare. High-level talent oozes from the offense with George Pickens, Donate Johnson and Jaylen Warren leading the charge.
It won’t be an offensive overhaul as players have stated; it’s too late in the season for that. But some tweaks here and there may just be what the team needs to put more points on the board for the captain.
If not, the Steelers might be walking off the plank of playoff contention.
