New Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith has been a friend of the Pat McAfee Show. It just so happened that the show was live Tuesday afternoon when the news broke that the Steelers are hiring Smith.
“I think he’s going to love being in Pittsburgh,” McAfee said. “I think Pittsburgh is going to love Artie Smith, and I think Artie is going to love Pittsburgh.”
Early reactions have not been as positive as some people have focused on Smith’s tenure in Atlanta. After all, Smith was the head coach of the Falcons for three seasons and posted identical 7-10 records. It was a tenure defined largely by a lack of success in the passing game and on defense. Obviously, as an offensive coordinator, the passing game struggles will resonate more with his new job responsibilities than issues on defense.
McAfee was quick to remind Steelers fans (and football fans in general) that Smith had quite the offensive coordinator tenure before that.
“Let’s remember that the reason why he had that head coaching job is because of what he did in the Tennessee Titans organization with Derrick Henry, [Ryan] Tannehill, and the boy was so good he got a head coaching gig basically out of nowhere after sleeping on couches for a decade or so,” McAfee said. “I think this is a good hire for the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
Smith was the offensive coordinator for the Titans for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. The run game was in the top five in yards, touchdowns, and yards per attempt in both seasons. The passing game with Tannehill was top 10 in touchdowns and in net yards per attempt and top five in interceptions in both seasons. Overall, the Titans were a top-10 scoring offense as well, even cracking the top five in 2020.
That’s a far cry from what the Steelers have done recently, which is why you can see how Smith would be an attractive candidate. The Steelers have a good running back duo in Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. Smith should be able to have continued success with them and perhaps even elevate the run game. Then in the pass game, Smith will rely on play-action a lot, which could help QB Kenny Pickett develop even further.
After all, despite attempting the fewest play-action passes as a team in 2023, Pickett completed 66.2 percent of his play-action attempts. That was over four percentage points higher than his total completion percentage.
Tannehill, a former first-round pick who resurrected his career in Tennessee after flopping in Miami, posted his best seasons with Smith calling plays. He had a career-high 33 passing touchdowns in 2020 and threw a touchdown on 6.9 percent of his passes while only throwing seven interceptions. In 2019, he only threw 22 touchdowns, but he had a higher touchdown percentage, a career-high 7.7 percent. He also had a career-high 9.6 yards per attempt in 2019.
Whether Smith can work the same magic with Pickett remains to be seen, but the Steelers can point to the success that Smith had in Tennessee as a blueprint for an offensive rejuvenation in 2024. For more on the Smith hire, listen to Alex Kozora’s reaction and stay tuned for more in-depth analysis.
You can watch the entirety of Tuesday’s episode of the Pat McAfee Show below.
