Pittsburgh Steelers interim offensive coordinator Eddie Faulkner addressed the media today for the first time since taking over for Matt Canada, and Faulkner gave insight into his personality and how he’s going to attack the job.
“Just me in general, I’m a real detailed guy. That’s how I operate,” Faulkner said via Steelers.com.. “That’s how I operated the running back room, so that’s how I’m operating anything that has to do with the offense or with our staff, to make sure we’re squeezing down, we’re tightening it up, we’re closing all the space. So we go into a game and these guys can execute and play fast. That’s the focus, and I feel like I can bring something to the table in that regard.”
Faulkner also touched on how being extra focused on details has benefitted the run game and how some tweaks here and there can benefit the offense as a whole.
“The techniques that they’re playing up front is going to require us to block something this way. So we are just trying to get really, really detailed. Keep the guys together, let them talk to each other and what they’re seeing, and then trust in what we see when we go out there and go in to execute. That’s going to always continue to kind of be the theme throughout,” Faulkner said.
Canada is someone who’s been criticized in the past for not being detail-oriented enough, with former Steelers TE Jace Sternberger criticizing how basic Pittsburgh’s offense and the lack of details. Obviously, there’s a balance between over-complicating the scheme and making it too basic, but it’s clear that Canada was too basic and didn’t have enough concepts built off certain plays. With Faulkner, the offense isn’t going to undergo any sort of major revamp, but making the small tweaks and emphasizing and harping on details is something that can go a long way toward making the offense better.
Faulkner also talked a lot about his communication ability, something that should come in handy as he puts the game plan together and spreads his reach beyond the running back room to have a hand in all parts of the offense. Being able to tell players the how and why of what they’re doing is something that could come in handy, and with Faulkner working alongside Mike Sullivan as the primary play-caller, maybe the sequencing of plays and the way certain plays are run out of familiar sets can change.
It’s going to be interesting to see just how much changes with Canada now gone and the Faulkner/Sullivan duo taking over. With only seven games left in the season, there aren’t going to be wholesale offensive changes, but focusing on details and hammering everything down to help the Steelers execute is going to make the offense better. We’ll see what they’re capable of doing on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals and beyond.
