Though TE Pat Freiermuth made it back from a hamstring injury almost two weeks ago, it wasn’t until this past week that he felt fully up to speed and fully integrated back into the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense. And that merely translated into a career day, Freiermuth catching nine passes for 120 yards.
Equally significant in his return and reintegration is the fact that it once again completed a tight end room the Steelers were very excited about going into this season. They finally felt prepared to make full use of it, running out of 13 personnel (that is, three tight ends on the field with one running back and one wide receiver) more in Sunday’s game than in the previous 10 games combined.
And while Freiermuth missed five games, the Steelers still had three tight ends at the time with Rodney Williams, whom they’ve been willing to play. They just hadn’t used him along with Darnell Washington and Connor Heyward. But Freiermuth understands that the continuation of that package is dependent upon their making it viable.
“Keep doing what we’re doing”, he said when he was asked about the future use of the 13 personnel, via the teams’ website. “I think we ran the ball very effectively in the three-tight-end set. Obviously, we had some pass concepts in there as well, so just continue to grow from there and just showcasing that we’re effective when there’s three tight ends out there because if we’re not doing much with it, there’s no reason for all three of us to be out there. So, have to continue to create plays”.
As we noted yesterday, the Steelers averaged 7.2 yards per play on offense on the 11 snaps they ran out of 13 personnel on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. They ran the ball seven times but also put the ball in the air four times, working to establish a level of unpredictability in the look moving forward.
We can probably reasonably assume that the Steelers would like to continue to run the 13-personnel look, given that they found it to be successful in its first game of significant usage. Freiermuth reminded us he is a significant receiving threat between the numbers while Washington is developing into a strong blocking tight end. Heyward is a versatile player best used as a mismatch piece on the move.
After all, it’s not as though the Steelers’ wide receivers are demanding every snap with their performance. Diontae Johnson and George Pickens are the only ones in the group putting up any real numbers, and the plays they make can come few and far between. Just as with the 13 personnel, 11 personnel has to justify its usage.
Put simply, it was the tight end group that was able to showcase itself on Sunday and to justify greater usage. But they need to keep doing it if they keep wanting to run that look. And that means more versatility, particularly from Freiermuth as a blocker and from Washington as a receiver. It will be fun to watch this package develop, if they allow it to.
