Players, fellow coaches and even media members are still in the honeymoon phase with new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. But after dealing with Matt Canada for three seasons, there is a sense of joy and genuine excitement surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers’ new offensive mastermind.
For The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly, that has to do with Smith knowing how to put guys in positions to succeed on the field and being able to scheme things up from an Xs and Os standpoint, which isn’t something that came naturally to the Steelers during the Canada era.
“Well, I think Artie Smith brings a different mentality. He’s been there, done that. He’s been the head coach. He’s been a part of a very good offense in Tennessee and, I think, he had Atlanta in the right direction at least offensively, and you could tell just to be able to X and O it to put guys in certain positions having matchups,” Kaboly said Wednesday afternoon on the Pat McAfee Show. “And that’s something I don’t know if Matt Canada was able to do on a consistent basis. So anything new is good until it doesn’t work, right? So, Arthur Smith looks good right now because he’s not Matt Canada, but I do think he definitely brings something to the table that they haven’t had in a while, and that’s a guy that really knows his Xs and Os.
“And I would say we’re going back to Todd Haley days here, and that was what, maybe a decade ago of having this type of coordinator of just knowing how to call games and coordinate offenses.”
Smith certainly brings a different mentality as the offensive coordinator for the Steelers, especially from a philosophical standpoint. Smith wants to run the ball, punch teams in the mouth and impose the offense’s will through the run game, and then take advantage through the play-action passing aspect of things.
It’s what he did well in Tennessee during his three seasons as the coordinator for the Titans. It’s what he tried to do in Atlanta, having great success running the football but being unable to get the most out of the passing game.
Now, he’s back in the coordinator role after splitting duties in Atlanta calling the plays and being the head coach, which could have affected him some from his ability to scheme and game plan against opponents.
That track record as a coordinator only is rather remarkable. He led the Titans’ offense to new heights from 2018-2020 and had some great talent offensively that had career years. He has a similar setup in Pittsburgh, the Steelers featuring a strong running game, a rebuilt offensive line and an experienced quarterback throwing to a big, physical receiver.
With everything that is in place on paper around Arthur Smith’s offense, excitement is high, leading to increased expectations. It’s important to try and temper those expectations a bit, but the Steelers — since the days of Todd Haley — finally have a guy who fits the modern NFL today, knows how to scheme things up and consistently gets the best out of his weapons from a matchup and execution standpoint.
He’s a breath of fresh air for the Steelers after three years of Canada. But that honeymoon phase won’t last forever.
