Though just one game, preseason at that, Friday night’s Pittsburgh Steelers opener offered the first window into new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. While the offense struggled to put up points, the first watch indicated Smith called a good game and the unit’s problems were more player-based than scheme-related.
But broadening out, how did the Steelers utilize personnel groupings against the Houston Texans? One of the biggest expected changes under Smith was a shift from being 11 personnel (three receiver) heavy to an offense that featured multiple tight ends and the occasional fullback.
Pulling the numbers from the game, here’s a breakdown of the Steelers’ personnel groupings, broken down by half. These include all plays, including ones wiped out by penalty.
Overall, it was an 11 personnel-heavy game for Pittsburgh with 39 such snaps, or 62.9 percent of the total. But context is key. Much of that was because of the Steelers playing catch-up in the second half, falling into a 17-point hole at the break and needing to throw late.
When game circumstance was less of a factor in the first half, the results were much more split. Only 43.8 percent of the team’s first-half plays were run out of 11 personnel. Here, deploying tight ends and fullbacks were common. Twelve snaps featured at least two tight ends (37.5 percent) while eight snaps (25 percent) featured a fullback, primarily Jack Colletto.
As a reference point, Matt Canada’s offense used 11 personnel on 78.3 percent of the snaps last season before his firing, according to charting by our Tom Mead. Comparing that to the first half, Smith and the Steelers had a 35-point decrease.
Other notables from Smith’s debut included a heavy and successful use of play-action, creating three chunk plays off it. Pittsburgh’s route combinations were also impressive, picks and rubs in the low red zone that got WR Calvin Austin III open on 4th and goal only to be foiled by a poor throw from QB Kyle Allen. Later, Connor Heyward’s touchdown came off a nice rub, TE Rodney Williams creating traffic that allowed Heyward to leverage the flat.
The run game opened holes and included a nice “Wham” run where TE Darnell Washington ear-holed the defensive tackle as the offensive line flowed to the second level. We’ll dive into the All-22 over the next several days but one game in and the offense looked better structurally. and when the game was close, it looked different in the people the Steelers used.
