Tim Benz: Despite finally eclipsing 400 yards, Steelers offense still has plenty of areas to improve
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For the past two years, complaints about the Pittsburgh Steelers offense under deposed coordinator Matt Canada from fans and media went something like this:
• They don’t use the middle of the field enough.
• Whenever he’s actually healthy, they don’t use tight end Pat Freiermuth enough.
• They don’t employ play action enough.
So, in the first game without Canada as the offensive coordinator, the Steelers’ first play from scrimmage in Cincinnati on Sunday was quarterback Kenny Pickett using play action and hitting Freiermuth down the middle of the field for 24 yards.
That could have been an admission to the public from new coordinator Eddie Faulkner and play-caller Mike Sullivan that a lot of the complaints of years past were accurate.
Or it was them throwing a bone to the barking dogs to satiate us for a while.
I’m gonna go with that second thing.
Regardless, the play worked. The Steelers won 16-10, and the offense put up 400+ yards for the first time since early in the 2020 season. Of the 421 total yards, 153 were on the ground. It was the fourth straight game rushing for over 150 yards by the Steelers backs and blockers.
But the offense is far from fixed just because there was a coordinator change. After all, only 16 points went up on the scoreboard. The team averages 16.5 per game, fifth lowest in the NFL.
That’s not going to be enough to track down the Baltimore Ravens atop the AFC North or to pull off a win in the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
So let’s take a look at some of the areas the offense needs to address over the final six games of the season.
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• Pickett and the new coordinators have to involve George Pickens more. Three catches for 58 yards shouldn’t feel like a lot. But it does, only because he has exceeded five catches just once all season (six versus Baltimore on Oct. 8). And the last time he topped 60 yards was on Oct. 22 (107 versus the Los Angeles Rams).
Freiermuth was the No. 1 target on Sunday. Nine catches for 120 yards from him is great. But that was, in part, because the Steelers were exploiting the Bengals’ two-high safety approach on defense. And unless Freiermuth changes his last name to Kelce, that kind of production from a tight end is not sustainable.
Pickens still needs to be the primary focus of the game plan among the pass catchers.
• It’s refreshing that Freiermuth was involved over the middle of the field. But he’s not the only player that is allowed to go across the middle. All five of Pickett’s completions over the middle were targeted for Freiermuth.
With Diontae Johnson’s route running ability and Pickens’ wide catch radius, they should be used over the middle of the field more often as well.
And Pickett needs to hit them in stride when they are open.
• The Steelers have to get better in the red zone. They scored a touchdown just once in four trips there against the Bengals.
Granted, one of those trips should have been a touchdown had it not been for a bad call (and Mike Tomlin’s failure to challenge) on Johnson’s scoring grab that was ruled an incompletion in the first quarter.
But they had two other possessions that stalled out and resulted in short Chris Boswell field goals.
When it comes to NFL red-zone TD percentage, the Steelers are 28th at 43.5%. To be fair, they haven’t had much practice at it. The club’s 23 red zone trips are the fewest in football.
• Find something for Calvin Austin to do.
Or don’t.
I’m not saying this is a priority. But for a guy with that much speed, it’d be nice to see him contribute in some way.
I get it. He was a toy to be played with whenever Canada was trying to reinvent the jet sweep. And now that Canada is out, Austin is looking like a guy to return punts, and that’s about it.
Fellow receiver Allen Robinson III has recently been used as a second or third tight end in formations. Freiermuth is sometimes deployed as ostensibly a third receiver in 1-2 personnel, with Darnell Washington as the “true” tight end.
Since Johnson’s return from injury after the bye, Austin has yet to see more than 18 snaps in a game. Prior to the bye, his lowest snap count was 35.