If you hated Matt Canada’s jet sweeps, you’re going to love Arthur Smith. A staple of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense in his three years as offensive coordinator, receivers taking handoffs has nearly been invisible throughout the 2024 training camp.
Tucked away in our latest camp stats posted Tuesday morning, and one reason why we care about the numbers, we noted the stark change. Our play-by-play allows us to compare the number of jet sweeps from one camp to the last. Through the Steelers’ first 12 practices, here’s the number of wide receiver carries we’ve logged compared to the Canada era.
Steelers Training Camp Jet Sweeps (2021-2024)
2024: 1
2023: 11
2022: 18
2021: 10
Since posting that, the Steelers haven’t had an additional receiver run.
In Canada’s college-based system, they were frequent. Double digits every camp. Granted, it’s still not a huge number given the high volume of snaps throughout a training camp, but its usage clearly carried over into the regular season. In 2021, Steelers receivers had 26 carries. In 2022, that number increased to 31 and in 2021, they finished with 14, Canada fired midway through the year.
That’s changing. That’s not what Arthur Smith runs. Running backs run the ball, receivers catch it. Only once has a receiver put on his running back hat, and unfortunately, it ended with more than just a bad gain. That was the play WR Roman Wilson was injured on, a jet run during Seven Shots that ended with an unsuccessful play and ankle sprain.
While you could argue the injury spooked Pittsburgh to stop running them, Mike Tomlin doesn’t live in his fears. Not from a camp perspective. The Steelers are one of the few teams who tackle during training camp and accept the possibility of injuries. But beyond that, Smith’s track record doesn’t have receivers involved in the running game. Here are the number of receiver rushes over his past five years as the Atlanta Falcons’ head coach and Tennessee Titans’ offensive coordinator.
2023: One
2022: Two
2021: One
2020: Five
2019: Five
It’s a fraction of what the Steelers have had. In fairness to Canada, his jet runs weren’t terrible, loathed as they were. But it was symbolic of watered down, college-based offense Pittsburgh ran that made it the most primitive unit in the game.
That’s no more. It’s one of many changes Arthur Smith will bring to the offense. In this case, a subtraction instead of an addition.
