The Pittsburgh Steelers had their best offensive output of the season on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals, totaling 421 yards. That was the first game in which play caller Mike Sullivan and interim offensive coordinator Eddie Faulkner ran the offense after the team let go of former offensive coordinator Matt Canada. Faulkner thinks the results from that game helped the players buy into change and in turn helped the preparation for this week’s matchup against the Arizona Cardinals a little bit easier.
“Just keep on hammering away. It’s like I said last week about the details and ironing themselves out, I think it will come with that. I think the guys are all-in on understanding,” Faulkner said via 93.7 The Fan on Twitter. “I know the points weren’t what we want, but the success we had last week really gave me a good stage to be able to coach, like sink the hook in and get the guys to buy into that and be like ‘Ok, let’s go.’ So it just made this week easier in the process of preparation.”
The offense moved the ball seamlessly against the Bengals, but it didn’t always translate into points. A turnover deep in Bengals’ territory took points off the board, and the Steelers aren’t going to win consistently by scoring just 16 points. But as Faulkner said, the offense still had success and that success provides a building block.
The goal is going to be to put more points on the board, and now Faulkner and Sullivan have a baseline from the Bengals to look at and figure out the best way to put the Steelers in position to score. The success on offense — it was the team’s first 400-plus-yard game since Week Two of the 2020 season, helps the players see what Faulkner and Sullivan are doing is working. That makes it easy to buy in and adapt to whatever minor tweaks and changes occur in the game-planning process, including the increased use of 13 personnel.
The more familiar Sullivan and Faulkner get with their new roles and leading the whole offense rather than just one position group, the easier it will be for them and the easier it will get for the players to execute. Faulkner said things are already easier in his second week of leading the offense. Hopefully that continues and the Steelers will be ready for the stretch run and ultimately make some noise in the postseason.
The early results are promising, and Faulkner and the rest of the offensive staff and players know the team needs more points. We’ll see if they can light the scoreboard up a little more on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium.
