And now the fight begins. That’s the Pittsburgh Steelers’ message coming out of the bye, knowing what awaits them. While they finished their first half 6-2, leading the division, they have the toughest schedule in the back half of the year. And especially when it comes to the offensive side of the ball, Arthur Smith is taking nothing for granted.
Over their previous three games, the Steelers are averaging 31.7 points and 376 yards. And they managed to maintain that consistency through lineup changes, most notably at quarterback. Despite losing their center for most of that stretch, RB Najee Harris rushed for 100 yards in each game.
“The bye you take a breather. You can watch more film, self-scout. You’re really cognizant of it. We just got a lot of work to do”, Steelers OC Arthur Smith insisted. “Just because we played well recently, coming off a bye, the real season begins now as you get in there. Whatever you’re doing well, you know teams are going to try like hell to stop you. You have to make sure you can counterpunch and keep honing your craft. That’s exciting. It’s nice that you’re 6-2. We know history. Now the real season begins”.
The Steelers have the 7-2 Washington Commanders up next with the impressive rookie Jayden Daniels at quarterback. Now, they do not have one of the great defenses in the league—in fact, they have among the worst rushing defenses. They are one of only four teams allowing five or more yards per carry. They have some good players, of course, particularly at linebacker, but the defense is not why you worry about Washington.
Notably, with six out of nine games against AFC North opponents, it is not the divisional defenses the Steelers have to worry about. None of them rank inside the top 10 in yards or points allowed, nor or any particularly opportunistic.
But the Steelers do have to worry about the Chiefs and Eagles, both of whom have top-10 defenses. At least on paper, those are the biggest tests the Steelers’ offense will face, one on the road. Of course, divisional games are always their own special breed of challenge.
And back to Arthur Smith’s point, we are now halfway through the season. The Steelers’ remaining opponents have a good idea of who they are on offense. Even amid a quarterback change, they have eight quarters of Russell Wilson running the show.
That is why a time like the bye week is so critical for self-scouting. It’s the time Arthur Smith uses to formulate those counterpunches he talks about to make the offense less predictable. At least that’s how it’s supposed to work in theory. We haven’t seen it work much in practice in recent Steelers offensive regimes. But Smith actually seems to know what he’s doing.
