Like the rest of the offense, coordinator Arthur Smith had to adjust to a new quarterback. And like everything else with this unit, the transition felt about as seamless as it could be. After shaking off the rust following a tough first quarter, Wilson and the Steelers got rolling on their way to scoring 31 unanswered in a big primetime win over the New York Jets. After advocating for Justin Fields last week (as myself and many others did), ESPN’s Ryan Clark credited Arthur Smith for rolling with the punches and playing to his quarterback’s strengths.
“What you saw was Arthur Smith understanding who Russell Wilson is,” Clark said Monday on NFL Live. “When you look at that drive in the third quarter, that ends with a score. There’s the pick play from a bunch formation to George Pickens down the sideline that Russell underthrows, but George Pickens makes the catch on the tip.”
Wilson’s deep passes weren’t as sharp as they looked in training camp, but his high-arching throws allowed a contested-catch machine like George Pickens to make plays. Pittsburgh kept its offense simple. Base run scheme of inside zone and tosses, boot-action into the flats for easy completions to TEs Darnell Washington and Pat Freiermuth, and vertical play-action shots to Pickens. There wasn’t any overthinking. Not getting too cute. Just sticking to the fundamentals and letting players make plays.
“I felt like Arthur Smith took a step forward with a little bit of confidence that he had in Russell Wilson that seemed like he wasn’t thinking about necessarily protecting him the way that he protected Justin Fields,” Clark said. “And when Mina [Kimes] and Marcus [Spears] and I talked on Friday, we wondered what would change. And what changed to me was the confidence the play caller had in the guy quarterbacking his team.”
Wilson’s lack of mobility behind an injured offensive line made it questionable if the 13th-year veteran could protect himself. But he had enough movement to avoid the pressure, even if that meant throwing the football away and not taking an unnecessary risk. But by “protecting,” Clark seems to mean not protecting the quarterback from himself. Trusting Wilson to avoid the bad decision without a careful or conservative play call to ensure that happens.
There’s still work for the offense to do. Pittsburgh essentially got all its offense in the final three quarters of action and slow starts remain an issue, though Wilson’s rust can explain part of that. But Wilson and Smith seem to already have a feel for how the Steelers’ offense should look, and they can build from here.
