The Pittsburgh Steelers have undergone a lot of offensive changes in recent years. This year, they’ve got some stability at offensive coordinator with Arthur Smith, but the many of their other core pieces have changed. The Steelers have had a revolving door at quarterback, and this year they signed Aaron Rodgers. One of the biggest questions when the Steelers added Rodgers was how he’d fit in Smith’s offense. However, analyst Greg Cosell believes that Pittsburgh shouldn’t force Rodgers to fit in its offensive scheme.
“I think when you get a quarterback like that, you have to combine what you want your offense to be, which is Arthur Smith with what Aaron Rodgers is comfortable with,” Cosell said Monday on the Stinkin’ Truth podcast. “Because one of the things that made Aaron Rodgers great, besides the physical talent, was the mental part of the game and his ability to work at the line of scrimmage.
“You don’t want to take that away from him. You don’t want to say, ‘This is my offense. We’re going to run the offense and you’re just going to run it.’ You want to allow him the freedom because he is one of those guys that’s a pre-snap operator. He can control the game at the line of scrimmage with how intelligent he is and what he sees. To me, there’s a balance there.”
While Rodgers has declined physically, his mind is still one of his greatest weapons. After being in the NFL for 20 years, Rodgers has seen and experienced a lot. He should have a level of trust from the Steelers’ coaches.
However, it’s important to note that Rodgers isn’t planning on making the Steelers run his offense, either. He’s stated that he’s running Smith’s offense. For as smart as Rodgers is, the Steelers have an offensive coordinator for a reason. Smith’s scheme aligns with how they’ve built their team, wanting to have a dominant run game.
Smith and Rodgers have both expressed how they’re collaborating on the offense. It’s Smith’s system, but he’s also including certain concepts that should make Rodgers more comfortable.
That should be a recipe for success. Rodgers’ arm is still strong, but he can’t move like he used to. Therefore, it’s tougher for him to get outside the pocket and avoid pressure. One way that the Steelers can support Rodgers is by giving him a solid running game so opposing defenses aren’t always keying on him.
Last year, Smith reportedly had problems with Russell Wilson changing plays. That seemed to cause a rift between them. Could that problem resurface with Rodgers? It’s possible, but so far, their relationship looks strong.
Until the season starts, though, it’s tough to say how the Steelers’ offense will look. In Week 1, we’ll see how similar the Steelers’ offense is to how it was last year. With so many new pieces, though, it’s bound to be fairly different. Smith wants to maximize the talent of the players he has, and to do that he might need to alter his approach slightly.
