The changes in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense one game after moving on from former OC Matt Canada aren’t just evident to us. They’re clear to their Sunday opponent, the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals have the chance to be the first team to fully react to the tweaked Steelers offense under interim OC Eddie Faulkner and play caller Mike Sullivan. The Cincinnati Bengals probably didn’t quite know what to expect and had to adjust on the fly. For Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon, he’s using this full week to digest the differences. And while Pittsburgh clearly isn’t installing a new playbook, the offense modified itself.
“Saw a little, couple different changes this last week as [Sullivan and Faulkner] kind of took it over and they played good on offense last week,” Gannon told reporters via the team’s YouTube channel. “So big-time challenge.”
For the first time since Week 2 of 2020, the Steelers put up 400 yards of offense, finishing the Bengals game with 421. It’s something they failed to do in any of their 44 games under Canada. And while points were still an issue for Pittsburgh — 16 isn’t going to win many games — the offense had more fluidity and rhythm than it had the entire season. QB Kenny Pickett finished with a season-high 278 yards passing while TE Pat Freiermuth had a career day, finishing with nine catches for 120 yards.
Gannon briefly went into detail about what exactly looked different.
“Play types were a little bit different and you could see where they put their emphasis on,” he said.
As we outlined in a video Tuesday, Pittsburgh used more 13 personnel (1 RB, 3 TE) in the Bengals game, 11 snaps, than they had the entire season, just seven non-kneel down snaps over the first 10 games. Pittsburgh utilized more play-action than it had before and, as Gannon hinted, consistently threw to the middle of the field for basically the first time all season. In fairness, Freiermuth had missed the middle half of the season with a hamstring injury, but these types of results weren’t evident over the three-and-a-half games he was healthy before going down.
Beyond the X’s and O’s, Gannon praised Tomlin for the job he’s done as the Steelers’ head coach since 2007. Tomlin is now the second-longest tenured coach in the NFL, and if Bill Belichick hangs up his whistle or goes to another team, Tomlin will have the longest active tenure of a head coach with one team.
“I know this about Mike Tomlin. He has been there how many years? 17 years. His team always plays with a level of physicality and belief that they’re gonna win every game they play,” Gannon said. “It’s very impressive to watch them on all three units on tape, year to year, week to week, whatever it is. But just prepping for them before…and then this week, obviously all our energy and focus is into this team. But you see that always show up and obviously he has done a really good job.”
Gannon is in his first year as an NFL head coach, hired after serving as the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive coordinator the previous two seasons. He inherited a team in full rebuilding mode and is looking to achieve the consistency and create the culture Tomlin has in Pittsburgh.
“There’s consistency with what they’ve been doing for a long time,” Gannon said. “You can see the type of players that they have, that they value, through their draft process and player acquisition. Coach Tomlin is not confused about who he brings in that building. I know that. And you see it show up.”
For Gannon, it’s been a difficult start to his head coaching career. The Cardinals have one of the NFL’s worst records at 2-10 with just one victory since October. But their running game is potent and RB James Conner, who spent four years with the Steelers, is averaging a career-high 5.1 yards per carry. QB Kyler Murray has started the last three games after tearing his ACL last season and boosted the offense with five total touchdowns (three rushing, two throwing).
But Pittsburgh’s run defense has risen since Cam Heyward’s return and the Steelers shut down the Bengals’ ground game last week, holding them to 25 yards and zero first downs. The trenches will be key to winning against the Cardinals’ offense. And Gannon, a defensive coach, and the Cardinals’ defense will look to adjust to a Steelers offense that doesn’t look quite the same anymore.
