When hired, new Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith was thought of as a zone guy. Inside zone and outside zone, out of single back and with a fullback, being his bread and butter. Make no mistake, zone schemes will be the predominant run call in Pittsburgh this season. But they won’t be the only thing. Friday’s preseason opener displayed it.
Going through the All-22, here are some of the non-zone runs the Steelers called against the Houston Texans.
Short Trap
A short pull by the backside guard to the play-side three tech/defensive tackle.
The first run call of Smith’s tenure was one of these: a trap, not a zone run, with LG Spencer Anderson pulling from left to right. The goal is to kick out the 3T between RG James Daniels and RT Broderick Jones. That allows Daniels to immediately climb to the linebacker at the second level.
Unfortunately, like most things for the offense in this game, the execution was poor. Anderson tripped over Nate Herbig while attempting to pull, falling to the ground and unable to make the block. There also seemed to be a miscommunication with RT Broderick Jones, who should be climbing but looks to block the LDE with Pat Freiermuth.
There’s no lane for Najee Harris, and the play goes belly up. Still, it was a power run, not a zone call.
Same call later in the game. And it was better. Anderson pulling again, this time from the right side to the left. He reaches and kicks out the 3T as LG Mason McCormick and LT Dylan Cook climb to the linebackers.
RB Aaron Shampklin has a big lane off Anderson’s hip and gets into the second level. He should run more downhill and gets a little too horizontal here, but it’s still a solid pickup and how the play should look when executed properly.
WHAM/CRUNCH
A quick-hitting run with dual down blocks, including a tight end earholing a defensive lineman.
Wham/Crunch isn’t a new concept in Pittsburgh, one called several times the past two years. And Smith is keeping it in the playbook. This call has down blocks from the TE on the 3T and the play-side guard on the defensive tackle.
Here, key on No. 80 Darnell Washington. He down blocks the 3T between LT Broderick Jones and LG Mason McCormick, allowing Jones and C Zach Frazier to immediately flow to the next level and the linebackers. McCormick would’ve blocked the d-tackle if there was one, though no one ended up being there with the dual 3Ts.
The run works, a big hole for RB Jaylen Warren, who finishes with some tough yards. Good block from WR Van Jefferson, too.
One other note. It’s mostly cut off above, but you can see Darnell Washington motion from right to left. Nice late wrinkle to force the defense to see and adjust to his down-block instead of him aligning there out of the huddle and being more easily identifiable. I mention this because against the Texans last year, the Steelers ran crunch out of the same look with Washington static each time. By the third call, the Texans adjusted and wrecked the play. So, being able to dress up the run with motion is a small but nice layer.
Pin & Pull
A puller wrapping around a down block, a type of fold block.
Saw this in camp. Pulling C Zach Frazier on this call, a fold block as LG Mason McCormick blocks down. At least, that was the idea. The execution was a mess, with Frazier getting caught up in McCormick’s block and losing out as the lead block for the back. It allowed the LB to fill the hole and make the tackle, RB Aaron Shampklin doing well to fall forward and get anything at all.
But the call was power, again showing Smith isn’t running one scheme.
Crack Toss
A toss play with down blocks on the front side, often a tight end or receiver “cracking” a defensive player, with pullers coming around to lead block.
Smith called this one a couple times, the below example the most successful. Crack toss with the frontside down blocking, including WR Van Jefferson cracking the play-side DE. TE Pat Freiermuth and RT Troy Fautanu pull around.
Good job all around. Nice reach block by Anderson from his RG spot, love the effort from Frazier to get in the way of the linebacker in space, and WR Calvin Austin III throws a good block to turn the corner around. An absolute huge hole for RB Najee Harris. I mean, just look at it.
And here’s the clip, a good gain for Harris.
Without full charting, the eyeball test suggested that about half of the Steelers’ run calls were man/gap. Success was hit-and-miss, and the team had a ton of issues getting its guards to pull around. The Texans’ penetrating d-tackles ruined the track of a lot of plays, but the attempts were there.
What I really liked was getting linemen to the second level free, making it easier to block and cover up these linebackers than trying to combo block like a zone scheme, two blockers needing to secure the first level before moving to the second, requiring more precision and time.
Despite the execution being spotty, these plays show that Smith isn’t just a “zone guy.” When hired, he said he would play to the strengths of the roster and be flexible to run more than just his core concepts. This game had plenty of zone runs but there will be variety to the Steelers’ running game instead of being on a single track.
