With Brandon Aiyuk out of the picture and seemingly no other needle-mover available, the Pittsburgh Steelers are stuck working with what they have. Assuming that’s the case, Arthur Smith becomes MacGyver. Being able to take the string and paper clips of this wide receiver room and turn it into something salvageable.
There’s only so much talent to squeeze out of the group. George Pickens’ game doesn’t have a ceiling and there’s the chance Van Jefferson recaptures the promise he showed early in his career. The book isn’t closed on Calvin Austin III, either, and Roman Wilson flashed before injury. But in a world where great receivers now litter the league, Pittsburgh isn’t going to have one of the best collectives.
Which makes Arthur Smith’s job all the more important. His scheme must elevate the personnel. That’s not negotiable. Randy Fichtner couldn’t do it. Matt Canada couldn’t do it. For Smith and this offense to succeed, that has to change. Pickens is the top man, a legitimate No. 1. Defenses know that, too. And the concern as the room is currently constructed is that defenses will roll coverage, double, and take Pickens away. And Pickens isn’t AB-levels of good where he can routinely beat a double. Nor does Pittsburgh have a rookie/sophomore JuJu Smith-Schuster who can make defenses pay for turning all their attention to Brown.
Smith must scheme open. He must creatively move and align Pickens around the formation to make it hard for defenses to key on him and constrict him. The good news is Pickens is far more comfortable entering his third year and moving around as much as ever before. No longer is he just an outside/go vertical receiver. Smith hasn’t been shy about taking advantage. Pickens has seen a heavy use of stacks and bunches to create free releases and more traffic to scheme him open. That was evident throughout training camp and during the preseason. It must continue.
Everyone else? Smith really has to work to get them open. The best way to do that is with concepts. Canada’s biggest problem, and Fichtner/Todd Haley was guilty of this, too, was creating routes that were too independent of each other. Asking the receiver to get open off his natural talent and ability. When Pittsburgh had the Killer B’s, including future Hall of Famer Ben Roethlisberger, that system could work. It doesn’t when the talent isn’t nearly as deep.
Concepts scheme players open. Route combinations to stress defenders horizontally and vertically and give the quarterback a structure to work from. That’s how Jefferson and the rest can win. Smith has shown promise here, as we showed in our video breakdown of his best calls of the summer. Much of that involved scheme and sound concepts to work guys open.
Beyond better quarterback play, a strong running game, and healthy offensive line, this is how the offense survives with its current inventory of wide receivers. It’s a lot of pressure but what Smith must do to truly be a successful coordinator.
