If there was any question whether new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith would run his offense or blend what the Pittsburgh Steelers had done before, Thursday’s initial training camp practice shed light on that answer. The offense Pittsburgh ran touched every cornerstone of a Smith offense. To sum, the offense featured:
1. Heavy amounts of play fakes and bootlegs, changing the launch point.
2. Multiple tight end sets, utilizing 12 and 13 personnel
3. Mixing in a fullback
4. Wide-zone running game
5. Pistol formations
6. Using all levels of the field and spreading concepts horizontally
The only way it gets more Arthur Smith than that is if each player had a mustache.
Of course, it’s practice. The Steelers can set up their offense however they want and it’s no big secret a coordinator is implementing his offense. But there was at least some question if Smith would blend things to an established team, not one in total teardown and rebuild mode. Since Smith arrived, the offense has bent to his vision. Trading WR Diontae Johnson, collecting tight ends, building up the offensive line with athletic and tough big uglies. This isn’t a compromise. This is the full Arthur Smith experience, baby.
Pittsburgh utilized its quarterback mobility. They leaned on play-action and bootlegs, changing the launch point and creating easy half-field reads and simple pickups in the flat for 5 yards a pop. They threw off run looks with multiple tight ends in the game. Of the 33 snaps I have personnel charted four (there were three that I missed), they used two or three tight ends 14 times (42.4 percent). They used a fullback or multiple tight ends 17 total times (51.5 percent). Jack Colletto, Connor Heyward, and one snap of Darnell Washington saw fullback duties.
The Steelers ran nine snaps of pistol, a way to marry play-action while creating easy boots for quarterbacks to roll out. Pistol also helps disguise the direction of the run as opposed to any tells based off which direction the back is aligned sidecar like in shotgun. By comparison, the Steelers utilized pistol formations 27 times all last regular season.
In the run game, it appeared to all be zone concepts. There wasn’t a single puller or trap. Doesn’t mean it’ll stay that way, Smith won’t exclusively be zone, but that was how camp started.
There were throws to all levels to the field. Boots and screens to the backs and tight ends. Throws over the middle to TE Pat Freiermuth and WR Quez Watkins. A deep shot to George Pickens that should’ve been caught, a good ball from Fields.
I know it’s practice. There’s no down or distance, no clock, no game circumstances to reckon with. And there are times where teams intentionally get in work situationally. A day where they want to run the ball will lend itself to bigger personnel package. A period where they want to work on third-and-long will put them in 11 and the defense in sub. I get all that.
My point is that this is Smith’s offense to the bone. Pittsburgh’s not hiding it. At least they weren’t on Thursday, the first practice to set the tone for the rest of the year.
