The Pittsburgh Steelers dealt with poor play calling and structure under former offensive coordinator Matt Canada for two-and-a-half seasons before letting him go midseason in 2023. This offseason, the team brought in former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator and Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith as its new offensive coordinator, and former NFL general manager Michael Lombardi thinks that Smith is a “really good” offensive coordinator. He explained on The GM Shuffle how Smith does a good job of modifying his scheme to attack the opponent’s weaknesses.
“Everybody thinks you’re coming up with something completely different or completely new. No, what you’re doing is modifying the scheme to adapt to your opponent. It’s a tactical warfare thing. It’s the tactics, right? You set the strategy and then the tactics come into play,” Lombardi said. “Let’s take for example Arthur Smith in Pittsburgh. He’s a really good offensive coordinator, gonna run the outside zone, inside zone, play-action over routes. He got a lot out of Ryan Tannehill when Ryan Tannehill wasn’t a great player. He leaves, Tannehill wasn’t the same player. So to me, he’ll put a better offensive structure in for Pittsburgh. He’ll be able to attack the weaknesses within an opponent’s defense. And he’ll understand how to attack them.”
Smith had a lot of success in Tennessee, which is why he got the Atlanta job in the first place. While things went sour in Atlanta largely due to poor quarterback play, Smith has an opportunity to get back to just focusing on calling an offense in Pittsburgh. According to The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly, his offense has been well-received by the Steelers players with one calling it “unreal.” Obviously, right now, the offense is just the base scheme and the strategy, and week-to-week, Smith will modify and adapt the tactics.
That’s something we didn’t really see enough of under Canada. It felt as if, for the most part, the offense was the offense and very minimal modifications or adaptations were made week to week, which contributed to it just feeling lifeless. With the Steelers’ gauntlet of a schedule in 2024, it’s going to be extra important to home in on what the weaknesses are of the opposing defense and scheme to attack them.
Smith’s offense could be an X-factor for the Steelers this season. Obviously, quarterback play with Russell Wilson or Justin Fields under center is going to play a huge role in how Pittsburgh performs, but it’s hard not to see either as an upgrade over Kenny Pickett. Smith and Wilson reportedly met for hours when Wilson came on his initial visit to Pittsburgh, and if the two of them click, the offense could be the best we’ve seen out of the Steelers in years.
Add the fact that Smith likes to run the ball and the Steelers have two really talented backs in Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris, and the offense could look better than anyone expects. Smith helped the Titans become one of the best teams in the AFC during his time running their offense, and the hope is that he’ll do the same with the Steelers.
We have a long way to go until the start of the season and seeing how Arthur Smith will adapt week to week, but we’ll get a good glimpse of how the offense could look to operate with Phase 3 of OTAs starting tomorrow and training camp later this summer. It’s going to be exciting to see and hopefully the offense can take a long-awaited leap.
