Tuesday afternoon brought a big piece of breaking news for the Pittsburgh Steelers as they reportedly have hired former Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith as their offensive coordinator. The reactions have been fast and furious with plenty of detractors calling out Smith’s failed tenure in Atlanta as the primary reason why the Steelers made the wrong decision.
However, count Rich Eisen among those who disagree with that sentiment. On Tuesday’s episode of The Rich Eisen Show, Eisen offered up his immediate reaction to the news. Suffice it to say, he approves.
“Love it,” Eisen said. “Love the hire… This is an upgrade on Matt Canada and then the two-headed monster that was supposedly coordinating and calling plays toward the end of the season. This is a bona fide offensive coordinator of significance who, by the way, was the OC for a few years when Derrick Henry was dominant. So, he knows how to use a big back who can come hit you, and that’s what Najee Harris is. So I kind of dig it.”
People either forget Smith’s success as offensive coordinator with the Tennessee Titans or write it off as having Henry in the backfield. However, if you look at Henry’s career, he did have his best two seasons with Smith. In 2019, Henry led the league in attempts, yards, touchdowns, and yards per game. He also averaged 5.1 yards per carry, the highest mark in his career to that point. Henry was named to his first career Pro Bowl and was a second-team All-Pro selection in 2019.
In 2020, Henry topped all of that. He had career highs in every major statistical category: 378 carries, 2,027 yards, 17 touchdowns, 126.7 yards per game, and 5.4 yards per carry. In fact, he led the league in all those categories except for yards per carry. He also was named the AP Offensive Player of the Year and first-team All-Pro and went to his second straight Pro Bowl.
Henry would continue to score double-digit touchdowns in every season thereafter, but he has yet to top 15 in a single season since 2020. He also has only eclipsed 100 yards per game once more since Smith left Tennessee. He has also not gotten back to averaging five or more yards per carry.
So yes, Smith had Henry at his peak. However, you can argue that Smith helped Henry achieve the highest points in his career. In 2020, Henry had 2.5 yards before contact per carry, a career-high. That speaks to some sort of schematic work to help Henry get downfield before defenders even made contact with him.
Now there’s no question in anyone’s mind that Henry has been one of the best running backs in the league during his career. No one would put Harris on the same level, but there are some characteristics in terms of physical build and physicality that lead people like Eisen to suggest that Smith can elevate Harris’ game.
It would be a good time for that, too. Harris is coming off a season in which he had a career-high eight touchdowns and broke 4.0 yards per carry for the first time as he averaged 4.1 yards per carry. However, he did that averaging 1.8 yards before contact per carry, over half a yard less per carry than Henry in 2020. If Smith can improve the run scheme to get Harris more yards before contact, that could lead to even bigger things for Harris.
As for being a “bona fide” offensive coordinator and better than Canada, there’s no contest. Smith produced two offenses in Tennessee that were top 10 in scoring (10th in 2019, fourth in 2020,) top five in rushing yardage and rushing touchdowns, top 10 in passing touchdowns, and top five in fewest interceptions thrown.
If Smith can replicate that kind of production to Pittsburgh, Eisen won’t be the only person digging this hire.
