Over the last five years, which includes the last couple seasons with Ben Roethlisberger, the Pittsburgh Steelers have played an extremely conservative brand of football on offense. Run the football, avoid the turnovers, and throw outside the numbers. This general strategy has been a staple of their approach. That includes the span of three different offensive coordinators. Who is the common denominator? Mike Tomlin.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Steelers insider Ray Fittipaldo is convinced that the conservative approach has more to do with Tomlin than it does Arthur Smith, the team’s first-year offensive coordinator.
“I just have a hard time knowing that Arthur put together that game plan in Cincinnati a month ago, how much success it had, I just have a hard time that anyone in his position would do what they did,” Fittipaldo said Wednesday via 93.7 The Fan’s Morning Show. “It doesn’t really compute for me just thinking about it from a common-sense perspective.
“I get it, they want to play to that personality. They don’t want to turn the ball over, but I would argue you’re not there yet with your offensive line.”
The P-G’s Gerry Dulac was told by a team source that the Steelers were hoping to run the ball 35-40 times to keep the ball away from Joe Burrow and the dangerous Cincinnati Bengals offense in Week 18.
They didn’t achieve that goal with 23 carries to 31 pass attempts, and the overall conservative approach led to a 16-minute deficit in time of possession.
Earlier in the season, the Steelers were mostly able to achieve their goal of possessing the football and controlling the pace of games. Their defense was playing well, and their run game was doing just enough to make it work. Over the last month, the defense has faltered, and the offense hasn’t been able to run the football.
Fittipaldo was asked directly if the conservative game plans have more to do with Tomlin than Smith.
“Yes,” Fittipaldo said.
He was then asked if that’s been the case for the last five years.
“Yeah, I mean, for the most part,” he said.
This isn’t unique to the 2024 season, either. Kenny Pickett’s 2023 stat line tells you all that you need to know about the Steelers’ conservative approach on offense. He has six touchdowns to four interceptions. He wasn’t giving the game away with picks, but he also wasn’t doing much to help them win.
In a Mic’d Up segment earlier in the year, Tomlin said he “definitively” wanted to run on a crucial possession down toward the end of a game. That illustrates how much sway Tomlin has on the play calling in certain moments, and he obviously helps set the overall game plan during a week’s preparation as well.
Just look at the Steelers’ first-down offense from this year. There was a lot of hope that would improve under Arthur Smith, but it’s just as bad as ever. The Steelers’ offensive line may be capable of executing this type of game plan a year or two from now when the recent investments hit their stride, but right now is not that time.
