New Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson is excited to work with new Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. In a 1-on-1 interview with Missi Matthews for Steelers.com, he explained why he thinks Smith’s offense will work. Wilson explained that the “multiplicity” of Smith’s various schemes and ability to build off them is going to make the Steelers offense click.
“I think the multiplicity of what Arthur calls and what he does, and the schemes and the thought process. I’ve been around a lot of great offenses, and the multiplicity of what we would do was very extreme, and how to get to the line of scrimmage and call plays from the line of scrimmage as well, and do all those different things. Arthur is gonna do that great.”
Smith can disguise plays off his schemes and build a number of options out of the same looks, and as Wilson said, the best offenses have a number of different components and looks that can work out of various schemes. Wilson also talked about the freedom to call plays from the line of scrimmage, and for a veteran quarterback, being able to take advantage of knowing a defense might be sitting on one look and adjusting is going to be an asset for the Steelers.
Wilson also talked about his excitement playing in a physical offense, and that draws parallels to his time in Seattle.
In Seattle, the Seahawks had a physical offense with Marshawn Lynch in the backfield, and now the Steelers are going to rely on their run game with a power back in Najee Harris and another tough runner in Jaylen Warren. The Steelers can help use the run to set up the pass, and Wilson is much better with the deep ball than Kenny Pickett was, which should allow for some explosive play opportunities in Pittsburgh.
There was some concern when Wilson was still a free agent about him playing his own style and ignoring the sequenced play calls that former Steeler Chad Brown brought up. But it seems as if Wilson, who reportedly spent hours with Smith in his initial meeting with the Steelers, is bought in and ready to get the Steelers offense humming after a few seasons where it’s been among the worst in the league.
There’s at least some legitimate hope that Pittsburgh’s offense can be good this season, but they still have holes to address at center and wide receiver. We’ll get a better idea of what this offense looks like after the draft, but right now, Wilson provides a lot of hope.
