Aside from ridiculous time-of-possession numbers, Arthur Smith’s Pittsburgh Steelers offense has been rather ordinary lately, if not considerably worse. They have scored under 20 points in consecutive games now for the first time since the first two games. And at that point, they were breaking in a new offense while playing with a backup quarterback due to injury.
What’s the excuse now for Russell Wilson, Arthur Smith, and company? Although the Steelers have won five of their last six games and had a fourth-quarter comeback last week, they are still not performing up to the level of expectations. For the players, though, that’s on them.
“It’s execution. I believe in the calls. I believe in the coaches”, Steelers TE Pat Freiermuth said, via the team’s website, about Arthur Smith and company. “The players have got to do better. We’ll be alright”.
This week, the Steelers are going against one of the league’s worst defenses in the Cincinnati Bengals. But Arthur Smith and company couldn’t fully take advantage of Baltimore’s bad secondary in Week 11. And one of the reasons the Bengals’ defense struggles is because their offense is so good, so opposing teams are pressing to make plays.
The Steelers’ offensive players also believe they’re not helping the defense, but not because they’re scoring too much. “We put our defense in bad situations”, Freiermuth said. Perhaps he is referring at least in part to the drive after the go-ahead score against the Browns. Arthur Smith checked Justin Fields into the game and the offense stalled. The Steelers punted, Corliss Waitman shanking it.
On the whole, Arthur Smith has done a lot of good for the Steelers, but he hasn’t been flawless. Part of the problem is that his personnel doesn’t fully match his philosophy no matter how hard he tries. While the offensive line has the building blocks, it’s not up to snuff right now. In fact, if anything, it’s trending in the wrong direction.
Another thing they haven’t done very much is score early, let alone on opening drives. Despite it being an intention, Arthur Smith is continuing in the Matt Canada Steelers tradition. “That was the goal, to get up on them early”, Freiermuth conceded for about the 10th time this year, in this case about the Browns game. “We didn’t do that. We gave ourselves a chance at the end. It happens. We’ll move past it”.
The Steelers briefly looked like they could move the ball. With the combination of Russell Wilson and Arthur Smith, there was hope that they could finally have a mature, NFL offense. But too often they are falling short of that mark. And it’s only trending in the opposite direction, just as the schedule toughens.
