The 2023 Pittsburgh Steelers somehow making the playoffs may go down as one of Mike Tomlin’s greatest accomplishments. Even though they didn’t perform well in their playoff game, considering how awful their offense was, it was a miracle they were able to perform as well as they did. However, it was still a failure because the Steelers didn’t meet the expectations they set for themselves, and they made major strides to try to improve their offense. There may be some growing pains with so many new pieces, but one former general manager doesn’t expect anything to stop the Steelers from winning.
Michael Lombardi served in multiple executive roles within numerous NFL front offices over his career, most notably as the Cleveland Browns’ general manager in 2013. On a recent episode of The Lombardi Line, he spoke about what the Steelers’ offense could look like this season, pointing out the one struggle he could see Arthur Smith having with Russell Wilson.
“I think the biggest concern he has is, in watching Russell, will Russell work and climb the ladder in the pocket? The Steelers are so used to winning ugly, they do it all the time against the Baltimore Ravens, they just find a way to win a game,” Lombardi said. “Their defense with T.J. Watt coming off the edge, and [Alex] Highsmith, that makes them effective. I think the addition of Wilson, the inside linebacker [Payton Wilson], along with [Patrick] Queen, will help. Smith will run the ball, play-action, and they’ll do way more offensively.”
There’s maybe never been a truer statement than Lombardi saying the Steelers are used to winning ugly. Last season alone, nine of the Steelers’ 10 wins came in one-score games. While that doesn’t necessarily make a game ugly, it does when the games are as low scoring as Pittsburgh’s tend to be. The Steelers are less flash and dash and more smash and crash. They’re used to having to depend on their defense to create miracles for them to win.
Lombardi’s point isn’t that the Steelers will have to do that as much as they have. As he says, Smith should make their offense better in certain aspects. It still won’t make them a pretty team — Smith’s style is still to run the ball and play nasty and physical — but it should put them in situations where they don’t have to pray for a turnover from the other team to give them a chance to win.
The Steelers’ players seem to be embracing Smith’s style though, which is a good sign for their offense improving this year. If they want to have any chance at competing with the top dogs in the league, like the Kansas City Chiefs, they’ll need to finally form an identity on offense. You can only depend on winning ugly for so long. Eventually, you start to lose ugly too, a fact the Steelers are also very aware of. The offense won’t be perfect this season, but it shouldn’t be as mind-numbing to watch as it has been the past few years.
