The Pittsburgh Steelers were one of only five teams in the NFL that ran the ball at least 46 percent of the time during the 2023 season. They ranked fifth overall, 47.3 percent of the time, behind the Baltimore Ravens (50.3), the San Francisco 49ers (48.7), the Chicago Bears (48.7), and the Atlanta Falcons (47.8). This does not factor out scrambles as plays designed to be a pass, but these numbers are in the ballpark of representing intent.
And what you get with that company is a mixed bag. You have quite arguably the two best teams in the league paired against two teams that are decidedly not that. The Steelers fall somewhere in the middle. But what offense would they choose to have if given the option?
“Philosophically, the Steelers have to ask themselves, ‘What kind of offense do we want to run? Do we want to run a 21st century offense or a 20th century offense?’”, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk told Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller on 93.7 The Fan. “I think that’s the question”.
By that I think it’s fairly obvious what he means. And it’s obvious to what he is referring. The Steelers have a vacancy at the offensive coordinator position after firing Matt Canada in-season. Who they decide to lead the offense going forward will be a momentous and telling one.
They have two talented running backs in Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. They have two talented wide receivers in George Pickens and Diontae Johnson. TE Pat Freiermuth is a capable pass-catcher. Darnell Washington is becoming a force as a blocker. The biggest personnel questions are at quarterback and offensive line. They had three players reach 1,000 yards from scrimmage.
“We talked before the season about how the Steelers seemed to be intent to play great defense, vanilla offense, and just make it work”, Florio said. “Run the ball, make it work. Now we got a glimpse toward the end of the season of what happens when you have a quarterback in there who’s gonna throw it all over the place”.
The passing game took off, for two games anyway, late in the year when QB Mason Rudolph was tossing the ball to Pickens. But head coach Mike Tomlin also said at the time they were actively being more aggressive not due to personnel but to the team’s circumstances. They lost three games in a row, for which Kenny Pickett was unavailable since the second quarter of the first game.
Of course it’s not as simple as Florio might make it sound. You don’t just choose to have a prolific passing offense. But you can give yourself a better chance of having one by picking a coordinator who can run it. Which is one of the reasons the Steelers’ interview list for the job is being watched so intently.
So far, the only interview they’ve conducted is with Thomas Brown. They are expected to interview Zac Robinson at some point as well, and there are rumors of other names floating about. But until they announce a signing, we won’t really have any insight into what they envision for this offense to look like.
Yet the top two teams in rushing percentage have a good chance of competing for the Super Bowl. It’s not just about running the ball. I don’t think any keen observer would call the Ravens or the 49ers a 20th-century offense.
