There’s a lot of things an offensive coordinator wants to be compared to. A high-octane race car zooming around the track. A chess master always one step ahead. For Arthur Smith, he’s a sloth. In the 1940s. That’s the view of Scott Barrett of Fantasy Points, who reviewed Smith’s offense and the impact his presence will be on the Pittsburgh Steelers.
While his article has a fantasy football slant, it offered some choice words for Smith’s style of play that will be felt each week.
“I think we know what the Arthur Smith offense is — a sloth-paced World War II-era level of run-heavy offense,” Barrett wrote. “That’s bad for the pass catchers but could be great for the RBs.”
Since becoming an offensive coordinator in 2019, Smith’s developed a reputation for running the daylights out of the ball. Year by year, here’s where his offenses finished in total rushing attempts.
2019 Titans – 10th (27.8 per game)
2020 Titans – 2nd (32.6 per game)
2021 Falcons – 29th (23.1 per game)
2022 Falcons – 1st (32.9 per game)
2023 Falcons – 3rd (30.7 per game)
Aside from 2021 (where he lacked a run threat at QB with Matt Ryan at the helm), Smith’s offenses have finished top 10 in the other four years. In three of the five, he’s finished top three. His last two years in Atlanta were especially notable considering the Falcons were 7-10 teams. That typically doesn’t lend itself to running a lot, playing from behind and forced to throw. But Smith still stayed the course and ran it early and often.
Taking it a step further, the Falcons were among the league leaders in run rate on early downs. On first half first-down plays in 2022 and 2023 (reducing the noise of game circumstance), Atlanta ran the ball 57.7 percent of the time. The only team with a higher percentage? Yup, the Pittsburgh Steelers, coming in slightly ahead at 59 percent. And Pittsburgh was the only team to have fewer total passing attempts than Atlanta by a whopping one, 188 to 187.
Given the Steelers’ offensive structure, Smith’s numbers should be similar. The strength of Pittsburgh is through the ground. An excellent duo at running back of Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren, the team forming a committee after years of having a singular lead back. An offensive line that continues to improve, bringing in physical finishers in OT Troy Fautanu and C Zach Frazier with the team’s top two draft picks. And a tight end room that’s deep and varied, pairing well with Smith’s preference to use two or three of them at once, another callback to his old-school style. Pittsburgh has only one defined and proven wide receiver in George Pickens, though it will spend the rest of the summer searching for another.
From a fantasy perspective, Harris and Warren will siphon away from each other. But on-field, they could wear defenses down with their power and relentless nature. If so, that’ll open up the passing game, compelling opponents to stack the box to slow down the run game. It’ll create play-action chances for Russell Wilson to air it out deep, something he can still do at a high level.
While it might be slow and not look pretty, all Arthur Smith needs to do is produce. An offense that finishes even average in scoring will feel like an achievement. A top-10 unit might get him a statue built. Given the Steelers’ struggles, fans won’t care how the job gets done so long as the results are a clear improvement.
