Category: Steelers offense

Will extra preparation be enough to solve Steelers’ red zone woes?

Can Mike Tomlin and the Steelers fix their red zone struggles in time to improve one of the NFL’s worst TD efficiencies?

Fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers are understandably frustrated over the lack of scoring the past few weeks, but is it fixable?

The OC Arthur Smith led-Pittsburgh Steelers offense rank 13th in red zone attempts per game with 3.5 but have one of the worst red zone scoring percentages when accounting for TDs only: a bottom-three percentile team in the NFL at 44.74%. To highlight just how truly bad the Steelers are in the red zone, the Denver Broncos average fewer red zone scoring attempts per game but far surpass the Steelers’ red zone scoring percentage, ranking 11th at 57.50%.

Much of the blame has been placed on Russell Wilson, who has one of the worst red zone completion percentages in the NFL, completing just 34.6% of his passes. Justin Fields has the same number of red zone touchdowns, with four, one fewer interception than Wilson, and a solid 66.7% completion rate.

HC Mike Tomlin hinted that the Pittsburgh Steelers addressed some of these issues in a “bonus” practice of sorts last Tuesday, and fans hope it will be enough when the team takes on the Cincinnati Bengals on December 1st at 1:00 PM EST.

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Mike Tomlin confirms Steelers worked on fixing huge offensive weakness

Mike Tomlin tackled the Steelers’ red zone struggles as the team prepares for a tough six-game stretch to finish out the 2024 season.

Over the past couple of weeks, the Russell Wilson-led Pittsburgh Steelers offense has come under fire for a lack of scoring, particularly in the red zone. The Steelers are currently ranked in the bottom three in red zone touchdown percentage, and Wilson is playing some of his worst football in this critical area of the field. However, Head Coach Mike Tomlin is well aware of the team’s struggles and sought to ease concerns during Tuesday’s press conference.

In reference to Tuesday’s practice, Tomlin stated, “We had a bonus-like day today with our players and really focused on ourselves and a couple areas of play that we feel like we needed to shore up, particularly red zone offense and some red zone defense.”

Tomlin went on to explain that the Steelers’ staff treated the past few days as a bye week in preparation for their Week 13 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals, focusing heavily on schemes in these key areas of concern.

Fans will rejoice if the hard work the offense is putting in pays off when the Steelers take on the Bengals in Week 13, on December 1st, at 1:00 PM EST.

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NFL analyst rips Steelers’ passing attack: ‘Shouldn’t be this hard’

Analyst Brian Baldinger, known for his NFL breakdown videos, touches on the overall frustrations behind Pittsburgh’s awful passing attack.

NFL analyst Brian Baldinger, creator of the popular Baldy’s Breakdowns videos, where he analyzes key plays from some of the best players in the league, told social media the painstakingly obvious on Monday afternoon: the Steelers’ offense is terrible. Typically highlighting what great players do right, Baldinger chose specific plays to illustrate where the Pittsburgh passing attack went wrong. 

On one key play, Justin Fields eyed a wide-open George Pickens running horizontally across the field, but the QB’s poor decision-making allowed the defensive back to make up the lost ground before he even attempted to throw the football. 

While much of the offense is under scrutiny, Baldinger highlighted that perhaps the best play of the night for the Steelers’ offense was made by none other than backup QB Kyle Allen, who hit TE Pat Freiermuth for 18 yards. 

Analysts and fans cannot make the tough decisions for Mike Tomlin and the rest of the Steelers organization. With Russell Wilson beginning to practice in full, Tomlin needs to consider the idea of starting the veteran QB in hopes of giving life to this awful offense. 

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1 touchdown through 2 weeks of Steelers’ football: Is there cause for concern?

Is it time to hit the panic button on the Steelers’ touchdown efficiency, or is it a product of game-script?

The Pittsburgh Steelers made headlines in Week 1 as the Steelers pulled off an unthinkable form of victory: 18 points scored with zero touchdowns to show for it. Week 2’s victory improved upon this concern, but barely, as the Pittsburgh Steelers scored only one touchdown in the first quarter. There is genuine concern for the Steelers’ lack of touchdown efficiency, but there is a possibility that this is an overreaction as well. 

Regarding the concern about a lack of Pittsburgh touchdowns, one can simply see the statistics and shudder: two games, 31 points scored, 15.5 points per game, and Boswell’s leg accounting for 12.5 of those. 

But how much of this is truly game script and necessity? The Steelers want to control the time of possession, which results in a boring, but controlled game. This has worked out for them thus far, holding the football for 35:36 against Atlanta’s 24:24, and again in Week 2 with a possession time of 32:19 against Denver’s 27:41. 

The Pittsburgh Steelers will look to answer these offensive questions as they prepare for the toughest offense they have faced yet: the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 3, who have scored over 20 points in their last two contests.  

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NFL analyst provides ‘disturbing’ stats on Pittsburgh Steelers offense

The Pittsburgh Steelers offense is BAD, but just how bad is it?

When the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ offensive stats are broken down, it paints a “disturbing” picture.

Per Sharp Football Analysis’ Warren Sharp, Pittsburgh is averaging only 19.6 yards per drive (last in the NFL), eight points per game (last), 0.4 points per minute of possession (last). “To equate that to scoring a touchdown, they would need to have the ball for an average of 18-and-a-half minutes just to score the equivalent of one touchdown,” said Sharp.

As Sharp said, the process is even more concerning than the results. Just how do they get to this point? What fans have known of offensive coordinator Matt Canada since he was promoted from quarterbacks coach — his predictable play design.

Sharp Football Analysis pass rates chart

Smart play architects don’t tip their hand to defenses. To be successful, they design the best they can to confuse their opponent. Only Canada doesn’t do that. While not surprising, the percentage in which he shows exactly what Kenny Pickett and the Steelers are going to do is baffling.

On the pass rate chart that Sharp compiled, the Steelers are out on an island. 82 percent of the time they’re in shotgun, it’s a pass play, and 90 percent of the time that they’re under center, it’s a run play.

“You’re holding no cards up your sleeve as to what you’re doing,” he said.

Pickett’s flawed decision-making, which seems to have regressed from the last half of 2022, isn’t helping the situation. But the stats don’t just start and end with him. In 2021, only 18 percent of Steelers drives resulted in touchdowns with veteran and future Hall of Famer Ben Roethlisberger at the helm. 44 percent of drives ended with a punt. Pittsburgh under Pickett has nearly identical numbers.

It’s eye-opening and, quite frankly, disgusting. It’s only September, sure, but wins count and losses still hurt.

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So much to do, so little time: Steelers HC Mike Tomlin reveals reason for struggling ground game

Tomlin points to the short weeks his team has endured and claims they’re several weeks into focusing on the run game in practice.

In the first six games of the season, the Pittsburgh Steelers were averaging 130 yards per game and 4.1 yards per attempt. Since then, they’re at the bottom of the league in both areas.

Initially, it didn’t matter that the run game was trending downward because Pittsburgh was still able to keep the offense moving with quick, short passes. That’s no longer effective because defenses got wise and neutralized that scheme.

Until guard Matt Feiler went down last week, the line personnel is no different from starting the season.

So, why is the ground game struggling?

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin points to the short weeks his team has endured and claims they’re several weeks into focusing on the run game in practice.

“We haven’t necessarily seen the fruit of that work yet, and some of that can be traced to the short weeks,” Tomlin said in his weekly press conference. “We’ve acknowledged that, and that’s why we’re excited to work this week. Our continued emphasis is there in an effort to get that product to look the way we need it to look, round out our offensive attack, and allow it to be more fluid and productive.”

That’s a lot to digest.

From a physical standpoint, a mentality standpoint, and a play-calling standpoint, sweeping changes are required. The Steelers have three games to roll out that “product” and until the second weekend in January to perfect it.

It starts with a full week of practice leading up to the Cincinnati Bengals. This is Pittsburgh’s first full week of practice since Week 12. After the Ravens COVID outbreak forced a few schedule changes, preparation and practice for the Washington Football Team were limited to three days and five for the Buffalo Bills.

Tomlin says his team is working on adjustments. We just have to trust the results will manifest themselves. We’re not going to see significant changes in the run game this regular season. But if we’re lucky, we’ll see them in the playoffs.

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Pittsburgh Steelers offense: 5 studs through season’s first half

Steelers who have had stellar seasons through eight weeks.

Haters hated. Doubters doubted. Yet here we are midway through the regular season already. It’s hard to believe.

No one would’ve guessed the Pittsburgh Steelers would be undefeated at 7-0 eight weeks in either.

Here are eight reasons why the Steelers remain unbeaten.

Pittsburgh Steelers HC Mike Tomlin pulled one over on us

At long last, it appears that Tomlin has opened his mind to an RBBC approach to the Steelers’ run game.

Remember all that talk in the offseason from Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin about not utilizing a rotational running back system? Yeah, me, too. And I fell for it. Why? Because in 13 seasons, Tomlin has never done it — except when the unit has been riddled by injury (2019, 2015).

“It was good to get Anthony McFarland involved,” said Tomlin in Sunday’s postgame press conference. “I thought our utilization of all the backs was a good element of play for us.

In reference to McFarland, Jr., Tomlin said game circumstances hadn’t allowed his role to develop. He was inactive Week 1 and suited up but didn’t play in Week 2.

“We like the overall trajectory of [McFarland’s] game,” he said. “He’s been working hard and practicing hard and has professional detail in his work. We had trust in his abilities. He brings a different skill set than the others, and they complement each other well.”

Games through three weeks have played out as such that they’re able to close games on the ground — where they’re winning but need to run out the clock and play mistake-free football in the final minutes.

“All these games are close,” Tomlin said. “Everything in the National Football League is a one-score game, so your ability in the waning moments to possess the ball and not put your defense in harm’s way, to win the critical possession downs, to be able to run or run-like action.

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“I can’t say enough about what Ben was able to do in some of those short-yardage situations. We did supplement the run with some quick RPO options that allowed us to sustain drives and possess the ball.”

The shuffling of James Conner, McFarland and Benny Snell, Jr. worked in Week 3. Every game will dictate its own set of circumstances, but it’s great to see Tomlin open to a rotational running back approach finally.

“James is our feature runner,” Tomlin said for the umpteenth time since July. “It doesn’t mean that we won’t play others, but it does mean as we distribute carries, particularly as we find our rhythm in the game, that will include Conner unless someone has an unusually hot hand.”

Tomlin added that that’s the approach from now on — he doesn’t care who gets the credit or who makes the plays.

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