When the Pittsburgh Steelers hired Arthur Smith to be their new offensive coordinator earlier this week, it was met with mixed reviews. Some hated the move, given Smith’s underwhelming time in Atlanta as head coach of the Falcons. Others, like former Steeler and current CBS Sports analyst Bryant McFadden, love it, citing how effective Smith’s offense was when he was offensive coordinator with the Tennessee Titans.
Recently, McFadden joined the Dukes & Bell podcast, an Atlanta-based sports talk show, and explained why he is thrilled with the hiring of Smith.
“Our offensive coordinator was, I don’t wanna say bad, but it just didn’t look good, yo,” said McFadden of former Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada. “Watching our offense was like watching a Lifetime movie, bruh. It was like, man, you watch a Lifetime movie, you know, it’s gonna be sad, it’s gonna be cloudy, it’s gonna be dreary looking, and you gonna walk away feeling some type of way, mostly upset and depressed. That’s how our offense was…I hated watching the offense.”
The Matt Canada era was notoriously bad, with the Steelers being close to the bottom of the league in almost every metric in their two and a half years under him. From 2021 to when he was fired halfway through 2023, the Steelers were 30th in both yards per play (4.8) and first down percentage (37%). In the all-important points-per-game stat, Pittsburgh was 28th with a measly 17.9. All stats per ESPN.
Moving forward, the Steelers now employ Smith, who, while in Tennessee, led the Titan’s offense in top five appearances in categories such as points per game and in advanced statistics, which is always important to see if how an offense is playing is sustainable in the long run.
McFadden explained that just because Smith was an unsuccessful head coach, going 21-30 in three seasons with the Falcons, that doesn’t mean much when it comes to his ability to be a successful offensive coordinator.
“So you’re telling me we get Arthur Smith, who, yeah, he didn’t really live up to the expectation as a head coach,” said McFadden. “Head coaching positions are not for everybody, you gotta be a leader of men for 365 days outta the year. But one thing we do know, Arthur Smith, when he was an OC [offensive coordinator], when he was just only dedicated to working on the offense, he excelled as a coach. So hopefully, we can get that same Arthur Smith that we saw in Tennessee up in the ‘Burgh because we need it.”
The Steelers have talent on offense, and if Smith can find ways to get that talent the ball and find ways to attack the defense’s weaknesses, Pittsburgh could see an offensive boom similar to the Titans in 2019. In 2018 the Titans ranked 27th in points per game and 25th in yards per game. In 2019, Smith’s first year as offensive coordinator in Tennessee, the Titans jumped to 10th in points per game and 12th in yards per game as Smith helped lead the Titans to the AFC Championship Game.
We will have to wait until September to see if Smith can work his magic in Pittsburgh, but as McFadden said, things are looking up. It can’t be worse than the Canada era, and even if you aren’t thrilled with the hire of Smith, there certainly is precedent to say things could go very well.
