Though we haven’t heard much from the Pittsburgh Steelers who will share their building with new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, Cam Heyward is happy with the hire. On the first Not Just Football podcast since Smith was named the Steelers’ new offensive coordinator, Heyward said he believes it’s the right move.
“Arthur Smith balling out with Tennessee all those years ago,” Heyward told co-host Hayden Walsh. “I know he didn’t have a lot of that success in Atlanta…shoot, I’m happy about it. It’s great to have an OC with some experience. I think the main thing I loved about what he said was, it’s all about relationships. You can have all the X’s and O’s but if you don’t have an OC players trust, it’s not going to work.”
Smith quickly became the most likely hire of the three men the Steelers officially interviewed. As a coordinator, he had great success with Tennessee in 2019 and 2020, leading the Titans into the playoffs both years with top-10 offenses. He revived QB Ryan Tannehill’s career, the former first-round draft pick becoming the league’s Comeback Player of the Year in 2019 while RB Derrick Henry rushed for over 2,000 yards in 2020. He parlayed that into becoming the Atlanta Falcons’ head coach, still running the ball at will but struggling to capture that success. Twice, the Falcons finished with the 26th-ranked scoring offense and ended 7-10 three consecutive years under Smith.
Given the tension and strain of his tenure, it’s clear former OC Matt Canada didn’t have a great relationship with the locker room. It’s one of the reasons why Pittsburgh made the unprecedented move of firing him midseason in the hopes of the offense coming together to finish out the season. In his first interview, Smith discussed with Steelers.com’s Missi Matthews the important relationship he has to cultivate with QB Kenny Pickett entering a critical 2024.
The Steelers haven’t had an offense finish above the league average in scoring since 2020 and they haven’t had a unit inside the top 10 since 2018. Though points were down leaguewide in 2023, the Steelers aren’t scoring enough points to compete in an AFC filled with top-tier quarterbacks.
Smith’s resume didn’t make him the most exciting hire and the most common pushback against him is that he is failed head coach who leaned on having a workhorse back like Henry in the prime of his career. Heyward, though, preached patience.
“I just don’t like condemning a guy before he gets the job,” Heyward said of Arthur Smith. “I understand he’s had success one and didn’t have success in his last job. Let’s calm down. Let’s pump the brakes. You can have urgency and be positive about it and be optimistic about it.”
Smith is only the team’s second out-of-house offensive or defensive coordinator hire since 2001, joining former OC Todd Haley, hired in 2012. It’s fair to critique the team’s search process, interviewing only three candidates. And Smith was the only one who truly met their experience criteria. All that matters now is Smith being the hire and the results he’s able to produce with this unit.
“You gotta give him time,” Heyward said. “I just don’t get already throwing the guy under the bus and saying, ‘Oh man, I can’t believe we did this.’ What makes you think you know better than the guys in the front office? You don’t think they’ve been doing their homework, studying this guy? And if they do have success, that’s great. If they don’t, ok, they missed. But man, I can’t get behind the mob of just saying, ‘I can’t believe we did this.”
While growing pains are expected with any new hire, the Steelers must get off to a fast start in 2024. It’s one reason why the team valued experience instead of a new coordinator learning on the job as Randy Fichtner and Matt Canada did. Smith will look to jump-start a running game that’s had success the past two seasons but also been hampered by slow starts, the Steelers unable to run the ball the first half of the season. Should Pittsburgh get its ground game going early, whoever is at quarterback will benefit.
Catch the whole episode below.
