There is one single, solitary overriding objective in the game of football, which is to score more points than your opponent. New Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith understands that is his highest priority, starting with improving success in the red zone.
The Steelers offense was garbáhge in the red zone during the 2023 season. Their 47.6-percent touchdown rate within 20 yards of the goal line ranked 27th in the NFL. The Atlanta Falcons — Smith’s former team — were one of the five teams that were worse last season. But at least the difference was marginal at 46.8 percent. The New Yok Jets were just stunningly tragic at 32.4 percent, nearly 12 full percentage points worse than the next.
“Red zone, that’s what we have to do”, Smith told Missi Matthews during a one-on-one interview for the Steelers’ website. “We’ve got to score points. You’ve got to have those four-point swings and create touchdowns”.
In other words, stop settling for field goals. But the Steelers offense was so bad last season that it didn’t just struggle to score in the red zone. It struggled to reach the red zone. They only had 42 trips inside the 20 all season, fourth worst in the NFL. Nine teams had at least 60 trips in the red zone. There also seems to be a correlation between the frequency of access and the rate of success.
The Steelers had an average number of field goal attempts in 2023 with 31, neither high nor low. They did not turn the ball over in the red zone a great deal. Chris Boswell’s nine field goal attempts inside the red zone out of 31 total represents the second-highest percentage of his career.
So not only do the Steelers need new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith to increase their effectiveness in the red zone, they also need him to get them there more frequently. They did have an uptick in explosive touchdowns with nine of them last season, but it’s premature to call that sustainable.
Especially given that it still wasn’t nearly enough. Their 17.9 points scored per game was their lowest output in a quarter century. And Smith’s Falcons offenses didn’t exactly blow the doors off the league. They had an effective run game more often than not, but never the sustained passing game success needed to thrive.
And nobody expects him to have that on his first day on the job in Pittsburgh. Indeed, the quarterback conundrum is their main concern right now. Kenny Pickett, the Steelers’ 2022 first-round pick, is not off to a good start for his career, statistically. He does have a favorable winning record and surprising late-game success with seven career game-winning drives.
The last time the Steelers finished in the top half of the league in red-zone touchdown percentage was in 2020, while Smith ran the Tennessee Titans’ offense. They scored a touchdown on 63.5 percent of their trips inside the 20 that season. The Titans? Oh, they finished second that year at 75 percent — 48 touchdowns on 64 trips. And first the year before that at 75.6 percent, though on significantly fewer opportunities, 34 out of 45.
