If I had told you that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense would score touchdowns on its first two possessions and the running game would go over 200 yards against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, you would probably say that it had a good day at the office, right?
Well, that statement would be partially right. Pittsburgh’s offense did come out hot to start the game, completing consecutive drives of 75 and 60 yards that finished in the end zone, and RBs Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris dominated on the ground throughout the game. However, the offense stalled after that, settling for three field goals the rest of the way as Green Bay managed to keep pace and take the game down to the wire with Pittsburgh winning on the final play from scrimmage.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith was asked about the Pittsburgh Steelers by Molly Qerim on First Take if the Steelers’ play is sustainable, given the fact that their offense has been outgained in nine-straight games, but still manage to hold a 6-3 record.
“Hell no,” Smith replied on a First Take segment from YouTube. “This offense is awful. Thank God for Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. Thank God we had them on the football field to run the football yesterday. I’m just looking at them right now, Kenny Pickett had 126 yards passing. Nothing to write home about. Still finding it difficult to get George Pickens involved, of course. I’m just looking at them right now, and don’t get me started with the offensive coordinator. They just don’t have it, plain and simple offensively. What Mike Tomlin is doing is nothing short of a miracle. I cannot believe that this team is 6-3. They ain’t no damn 6-3 team. Their record says they are, so we’ll go with that for now.”
Smith. blasted a passing game that was uninspiring for yet another week as Pickett failed to get anything notable done through the air and Pickens had yet another quiet outing, catching three passes on four targets for 45 yards. Pickett has often stated that they are pushing for balance on offense and mentioned postgame that they were able to achieve that against the Packers, but that’s far from the truth. The running game that was completely non-existent to start the year has come back with a vengeance, putting the passing game on notice for its lack of consistency and effectiveness to get the job done despite the variety of weapons Pickett has to work with.
It’s not fair for Smith to call the whole offense awful as the running game did its part with Harris having his best game of the season and Warren posting his first career 100-yard rushing game. The offensive line also looked good in springing the running backs into the second level of the defense, opening up multiple holes thanks to the stellar play by rookie OT Broderick Jones. He and the rest of that unit appear to be rounding into form.
Still, this offense does need a lot of work yet as the passing game looks like a handicapped version of what the rest of the league is currently working with. The placement of OC Matt Canada on the sidelines has appeared to help, getting him around his players with the move yielding positive results. While the playbook may be simple and Canada’s scheme has its flaws, we must see this passing game start executing better on a regular basis, and that starts with Pickett. Chris Hoke called out Pickett after the Packers win, stating that he doesn’t feel like the quarterback is properly going through his progressions as the game is moving too fast for him to process what he is seeing out there.
Pickett has yet to show that he can routinely lead an offense down the field with his arm on scoring drives to this point of his second season. We have seen him come up big in crucial moments in the fourth quarter, but that needs to be extrapolated to the entire game. The heavyweights in the AFC won’t wait around for Pickett and the offense to get warmed up before pouring it on the scoreboard.
In that light, you can see why Smith called Pittsburgh a fake 6-3 team, similar to the 2020 team that started 11-0, but fell flat on its face in the Wild-Card Round of the playoffs against the Cleveland Browns as the Steelers attempted to sustain the unsustainable themselves. This team is managing to keep afloat, but the Steelers better work some things out soon with their passing game in order to have a chance against the heavyweight contenders in the AFC.
