Sunday’s offensive showing on the road against the Cleveland Browns was a downright disaster for the Pittsburgh Steelers, offensive coordinator Matt Canada, and quarterback Kenny Pickett.
While the Browns are one of the best defenses in football, the Steelers were a rather confusing bunch offensively, getting away from what worked quite often (the run game), rarely utilizing the middle of the field in the passing game, and communication issues being a major issue throughout the game between quarterback and wide receiver.
That showing against the Browns — just 249 yards of total offense and not getting guys like wide receiver George Pickens and running back Jaylen Warren the football late in the game — has many questioning the Steelers’ overall offensive philosophy coming out of their 13-10 loss to the Browns in Week 11.
Former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky ripped the Steelers’ offensive play-calling Sunday after the game, and now former NFL defensive back Domonique Foxworth is adding on. Appearing on ESPN’s Get Up Monday morning, Foxworth stated that it feels like the Steelers’ offense is operating as if the fourth-string quarterback is in the game, rather than their starter.
“Their game plan is as if they are not talented enough to win games. They’re playing as if they have their fourth string quarterback in there, and they don’t have playmakers,” Foxworth said regarding the Steelers’ offense, according to video via Get Up on ESPN. “Their strategy has been this season, ‘Let’s get to the end of games and hope they make mistakes.’ That works when you’re playing high school football. ’cause you’re playing against 16-year-olds that will absolutely make mistakes. In the NFL, that is not something that you can continue to rely on when you have great players on defense.
“It’s gonna happen sometimes, but you win games with your starting quarterback by being aggressive.”
Aggressive just isn’t a word in the Steelers’ offensive vocabulary at this point.
Rarely are the Steelers pushing the football down the field, taking shots to try and take the top off defenses or even attempting to keep them honest in that regard. Sure, the Steelers go for it on fourth down at times, but going for it on fourth down in obvious situations does not equate to being aggressive.
Everything in the passing game is towards the sideline, avoiding the high-traffic areas of the field, particularly in the middle where NFL passing offenses have great success, though it does come with risks. The Steelers have become completely risk-averse in the passing game. For a team that has the talent the Steelers have in the passing game like Pickens, Diontae Johnson, Allen Robinson II, Calvin Austin III and even Pat Freiermuth at tight end, the inability to actually scheme up a passing attack and utilizing the weapons is concerning — and outright maddening.
That lack of aggression on offense comes from the top down as head coach Mike Tomlin knows that the defense is the strength of his team. Therefore, he doesn’t want his offense to do anything to lose the game. That leads to leaning on the defense to create short fields with turnovers, keeping scoring low and winning ugly games.
More often than not this season, it has worked. But Sunday’s showing in Cleveland against a short-handed Browns team starting a rookie fifth-round pick under center, the offense’s ineptitude was quite telling — and concerning moving forward.
