Mike Tomlin very clearly has his fingerprints all over the Steelers’ defense, but how much direct influence does he have on the offensive game plan? Given the conservative approach for the last several years, it seems that Tomlin is the common thread in that equation across three different offensive coordinators. But they went outside the organization to hire Arthur Smith last offseason, which seemed like a change in philosophy to the team’s approach to offense.
The conservative approach continued. Other than a brief explosion in Week 13 against the Cincinnati Bengals, the offense sputtered over the final stretch of the season, and many pointed to the game plan as a big reason why. Too much running into stacked boxes, and too much throwing outside the numbers while avoiding the middle of the field.
Is that a clear sign that Tomlin’s influence remains very strong over the offense, or does Smith just have a similar approach? Steelers insider Ray Fittipaldo thinks Smith has much more control than you may think.
“It’s Arthur’s offense,” Fittipaldo said Wednesday via 93.7 The Fan’s Morning Show. “He’s a guy who’s had success in the league, has been a head coach in the league. I think Mike does leave a lot to Arthur, and he kind of lets him operate on his own. I don’t think that he has his hands in the offense as much as he does with the defense. I will say that. If I had to take an educated guess, I think Arthur has more autonomy over the offense than a lot of people think.”
Even if Tomlin doesn’t have direct influence over the offense, he did have direct influence over the hire, and chances are good that he was looking for a philosophical alignment between himself and Smith at the time of the hire. He went out and hired a run-first coordinator who likes to put multiple tight ends on the field to outmuscle opponents.
This whole discussion was sparked by a recent report from P-G’s Gerry Dulac stating that Smith and Russell Wilson’s disagreements about the offense stemmed from the latter having a limited ability to check out of plays at the line of scrimmage.
He probably did have checks available, but they were built into the play rather than Wilson having true audible control. One of the reasons you would go with a 13th-year veteran over the younger Justin Fields is the mental aspect of the game. Wilson has seen it all, and he can use that experience to make important checks at the line of scrimmage. He was reportedly freelancing a little too much for Smith’s liking, and had that ability stripped from him toward the end of the season.
Is that a Smith thing, or a Tomlin thing? Maybe a bit of both. Why would they limit Wilson’s ability to make checks? For one, it stresses the preparedness of a young offensive group. There were multiple rookie offensive linemen and not a ton of continuity elsewhere on that side of the ball. Maybe there were too many examples of miscommunications when Wilson was making these checks, which led them to pull the plug.
Either way, Fittipaldo believes that Smith has a bigger say in these decisions than many would probably think. Tomlin and Smith are both returning for 2025. We will see who the quarterback is. If it’s not Wilson, I imagine we will hear more about these disagreements between OC and QB.
