Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith has a vision of what an offense should look like. It’s built around the running game, utilizes a lot of play-action passing, and has guys who are physical at the point of contact, wearing defenders down.
That’s his ideal setup. But it’s not always been that way for him in the NFL. He had that in Tennessee as the Titans’ offensive coordinator, and he had parts of that as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons and then in Year 1 with the Steelers.
Now, entering Year 2 in Pittsburgh, the roster is closer to what he envisions offensively, but he still has some adjustments he has to make to fit the talent he has. That’s what any good coach should do, and that’s what Smith embraces, especially with players like Aaron Rodgers, DK Metcalf, Jonnu Smith, and more entering the mix offensively for the Black and Gold.
He calls on the teachings of his late father to help him with that.
“I’ve had to adapt,” Smith told the Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac regarding the new faces offensively in Pittsburgh. “I give my old man a lot of credit, being an ex-Marine and adapting to situational awareness and always evolving. That’s what we’ve done every year. Things we did from year to year, you played to your strengths and try to fit the strengths to your team.
“Necessity forces you to adapt.”
For the second year in a row, Smith has had to adapt. Last season, he adjusted on the fly with the switch from Justin Fields to Russell Wilson at quarterback, and late in the year adjusted the passing attack in the absence of George Pickens due to injury.
This season, he’s changed things up with the addition of Rodgers and has had a collaborative partnership with the 41-year-old quarterback to help make him comfortable and set him up for success.
It’s not just Rodgers, either. Smith has a whole new quarterbacks room he’s working with, Mason Rudolph, rookie Will Howard and Skylar Thompson rounding it out. Metcalf and Robert Woods are new at wide receiver, and Jonnu Smith was a late add on June 30 in a blockbuster trade with the Dolphins.
Though Arthur Smith has a great deal of familiarity with Jonnu Smith, he was still a late addition this offseason who needed to be worked into the offensive mix. The Steelers have kept Arthur Smith on his toes, and he’s rolling with the changes.
That’s something that Steelers wide receiver Scotty Miller, who played under Arthur Smith in Atlanta before playing in Pittsburgh last year, credits him for being able to do.
“Yeah, I think the cool thing about playing for Arthur is his offense is constantly evolving,” Miller said, according to video via the Post-Gazette. “He’s not gonna stick on one thing or one system just ’cause that’s what he’s done in the past. Depending on what guys he has, what quarterback he has, he’s always changing it and making it the best for us.”
Again, that’s what good coaches do. This isn’t a square-peg-round-hole situation, pigeonholing players into specific roles to fit the scheme. Instead, Smith is flexible and is adjusting the scheme to fit the players he has.
We’ll see if that breeds success this season for the Steelers. If it does, Pittsburgh could be very good. If not, it will be another defense-heavy season that could come spiraling down late in the year without any complementary football.
