Tag: Steelers offense

It’s Groundhog Day (again) for the Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t fooling anyone.

What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered? — Phil, Groundhog Day

It’s not just Matt Canada. It’s not just Kenny Pickett. It’s not just the line. Everyone is accountable for the poor-performing Pittsburgh Steelers offense.

Week after week, it’s the same ol’ thing: Protection breaks down, and Pickett gets sacked. Pickett has wide-open receivers, and either doesn’t see them or his throws are off-target. Canada calls plays that defenders can easily read.  Of course, you’re not going to have success in the red zone with Connor Heyward. You never use him. When you do, he becomes an obvious target for the defense.

In defense of their predictable offense, Mike Tomlin says that teams are predictable. You know the only coach who says offenses are predictable? The coach of the most predictable team.

Every week, it’s a new opponent calling out Pittsburgh for knowing exactly who would be where and do what. It’s the same week-in and week-out, which is why the Steelers are painfully inconsistent and can never get in a groove.

As NFL analyst Brian Baldinger said in his breakdown of Pittsburgh’s first three-and-out in Week 8, “It’s Groundhog Day in the confluence.”

Steelers fans are waiting for things to change, but they’re not. And we’re growing weary of even having any expectations.

The bye week is when teams are supposed to learn from what worked and what hasn’t and adjust accordingly. But we’re heading into the third-week post-bye, and the Steelers are at a standstill.

There was a spark in the run game during the win over the Rams, but it fell off a cliff in the loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Pickett regressed this season and has shown no signs of improving. This offense is a comedy of errors.

When are the Pittsburgh Steelers going to wake up and not repeat the same tired, boring, predictable set of plays for once?

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Steelers ex-OC Todd Haley sounds off on failing Pittsburgh offense

Todd Haley shares his take on the Steelers OL since Mike Munchak left for the Denver Broncos.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are dealing with an identity crisis on the offensive side of the ball. They are so unbelievably lost that they might not find themselves before the end of the 2020 season.

When Pro Football Focus released their preseason rankings of offensive line units, the Steelers were at the bottom of the heap — with only the New York Giants ranked below.

The line has never quite been the same since Mike Munchak departed Pittsburgh for the Denver Broncos after the 2018 season. During his four-year stint with the Steelers, his units were hailed as the best in the league. In Munchak’s final season, the cohesion of his players went unmatched around the NFL.

After Munchak moved on, the Steelers promoted his assistant Shawn Sarrett, and the line tanked. When Sarrett was canned, the Steelers promoted Sarrett’s assistant, Adrian Klemm, in February. From schemes to protections, Klemm has done nothing to improve the unit. They are, in his defense, a young group with little NFL experience.

Former Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley said that coaches like Mike Munchak are very hard to come by and has concern for a unit that’s on its second coach in three seasons. “You don’t just learn how to coach a group of guys like an offensive line overnight. You better have experience,” Haley said on SiriusXM NFL Radio’s “The Opening Drive.”

“Right now, I just think you’re seeing all those things come together in a perfect storm of a new line, a new center, new coordinator, new line coach. It doesn’t usually spell success… No disrespect to [Adrian Klemm].

Haley said he means no disrespect to Klemm, but ‘Mike Munchaks just don’t fall off a tree.’ “He’s really, really good,” Haley said. “I think you’re seeing the benefits of him in Denver now.”

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An uncertain future for Steelers OC Randy Fichtner in Pittsburgh

With Randy Fichtner’s contract due to expire this offseason, the Steelers offense could have a new look next year.

The offense of the Pittsburgh Steelers could have a new look next year. The contract of Randy Fichtner, the team’s current coordinator, will expire at the end of the 2020 season.

The question becomes, will the Steelers offer an extension or send him packing?

Cleveland-born Fichtner has been in Pittsburgh nearly as long as Big Ben. In 2007, Fichtner hit the lottery when he came from the college ranks to coach a couple of NFL wide receivers named Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes. He retained the role for three seasons when, in 2010, he was promoted to quarterbacks coach.

As QBs coach, Fichtner formed a close relationship with Steelers franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. So, in 2018, when offensive coordinator Todd Haley’s time was up in Pittsburgh, it was natural to promote Fichtner.

The offense has had its share of ups and downs under Fichtner’s direction.

2018

  • Points: 6th; yards: 4th

2019

  • Points: 27th; yards: 30th

2020

  • Points: 12th; yards 23rd

In his first season as OC, Fichtner had the luxury of one of the best wide receivers to play the game in Antonio Brown. In his second season, Fichtner had the misfortune of conducting an offense without its franchise QB.

This season, Fichtner’s playbook is stale and predictable, much like it was in 2019, only for different reasons. While his gameplan was initially innovative, it’s clear Fichtner was not prepared for when the short passing game hit a wall, and now he’s back to the drawing board.

It doesn’t help that the offensive line is one of the oldest in the league and can’t run block to save their lives. But this is nothing new. The Steelers have been in the bottom half of the league in rushing since 2018.

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We’ll see if Fichtner can right the ship. But whether he does or not may not change his offseason status. The Steelers are a team of tradition, and even though they’re struggling offensively right now, I don’t see Fichtner going anywhere as long as Ben Roethlisberger is around.

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Steelers OC Randy Fichtner needs to put on his big boy pants and shoulder the blame for crumbling offense

There’s no question that Big Ben is part of the problem, but the solution starts with the man charged with calling those plays.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Well, it broke officially around Week 12, and there’s no fix in sight.

For the second week in a row, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger takes all of the blame for the team’s offensive struggles. And, like their offense, it’s getting predictable.

“Offensively, we are not very good,” said Roethlisberger in a postgame press conference. “Right now, we are not playing good football, and that starts with me. We all need to look in the mirror, and, like I said, it starts with me.”

There’s no question that Roethlisberger is part of the problem, but the solution starts with the man charged with calling those plays. It’s offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner’s job to … coordinate the offense.

The quarterback’s job is to execute that offense — a tall task when what was once innovative is now unimaginative and lifeless.

A team is only as good as its ability to adapt. The Steelers aren’t adapting, so what does that make them? The loss to the Washington Football Team should’ve been a wake-up call to dig into the playbook and come up with a different approach. That never happened.

Roethlisberger is a sure-fire Hall of Famer, and for the first 11 weeks of the season, he was executing well an offensive scheme that was the opposite of everything he’d known for 16 seasons.

But it’s not working anymore and hasn’t been since Week 12. It’s beyond time for Fichtner to draw up something new that melds with Big Ben’s capabilities and that the offense can win with. If he can’t, Pittsburgh won’t see round two of the playoffs.

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Pittsburgh Steelers defense tops in league turnover margin

The Steelers aren’t likely to eclipse their 38 turnovers from 2019, but they’re doing a stellar job so far.

The Pittsburgh Steelers defense isn’t likely to eclipse its 38 turnovers from 2019, but they’re doing a stellar job so far.

With 15 interceptions and six fumbles, the defense has 21 takeaways through 10 games. The Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are behind them with 19 each.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin recently addressed his team’s success with takeaways. “We not only talk about it, but we drill it,” he said in a press conference. “We are just going to keep working in that regard. We recognize that the turnover element of play is significant and something that we have to continually work at.”

Tomlin spoke highly of the job cornerback Cam Sutton did in place of Mike Hilton. In Hilton’s absence, Sutton forced a fumble in the Baltimore Ravens, Dallas Cowboys and Cincinnati Bengals matchups.

“I can’t say enough about the effort of the guys,” said Tomlin. “Cam Sutton has forced a fumble in the last three football games, and that is the guy that doesn’t play every snap of defense. He’s more of a situational defender. I can’t say enough about his awareness and his willingness to put that on tape and how it builds and encourages others to do similar things.”

When it comes to how Ben Roethlisberger and the offense operates knowing their defense can get the ball back at any moment, Tomlin said it’s more than talking the talk. “It goes beyond conversations. It’s about action, and we start every Wednesday workday with ball handling and ball security drills for those that throw it, catch it and run it.”

“It’s just a part of our culture,” he said. “Just like pursuing and working to take care of the ball on the other side. We believe that those two things work hand-in-hand, and discussions are just the very beginnings of it. We have to make sure our actions match our words, and, as a staff, we are working extremely hard to do so from a drill standpoint in our week’s prep.”

The Steelers have had plenty of prep time for their upcoming opponent, the Baltimore Ravens. The defense will look to continue forcing turnovers Tuesday night.

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Was the Steelers’ secret weapon exposed in Week 7?

The Tennessee Titans figured out what the Pittsburgh Steelers already knew.

Well, it was nice while it lasted…

In recent weeks, the Steelers began utilizing rookie Chase Claypool as a “No. 1” receiver, and his numbers reflected it.

Opponents, however, were not treating him as a No. 1. Claypool and his team were reaping the benefits of their adversary’s oversight.

That is until Tennessee.

In prepping for Week 4… strike that… Week 7, the Tennessee Titans figured out what Pittsburgh already knew: Chase Claypool is somethin’ special.

Tennessee had the luxury of extra prep time for the Steelers due to their Week 4 matchup postponement. That extra time offered the Titans a solid glimpse of just how the Steelers were using Claypool, his progression through the weeks, and the spark he provided on offense.

In six games (two starts), Claypool, affectionately known as Mapletron, has done far more than anyone outside of the organization thought he would. Through Week 6, Chase supplied 356 all-purpose yards and six touchdowns.

Mapletron showed all the tools of a playmaker, and Tennessee was the first to challenge that notion by successfully shutting him down. He drew double teams for the first time this season. Cornerback Malcolm Butler and safety Kevin Byard did an unfortunately stellar job taking him out of the game.

On a short pass in his first opportunity early in the second quarter, Chase was tackled by Jadeveon Clowney two yards behind the line and fumbled. Thanks to awareness the rookie has shown week-in and week-out, Chase recovered the ball. In the next quarter, a pass to Claypool was incomplete, interfered with by Malcolm Butler, which drew a flag. In the fourth, a big spin move on a critical third-down conversion was walked back thanks to pass interference on running back Jaylen Samuels.

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Hopefully, next week Chase will see more opportunities in one-on-one coverage. Short passes have been the name of Ben Roethlisberger’s game, but the Steelers will need to test the Ravens’ defensive backs vertically.

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Steelers’ DT Tyson Alualu talks ‘old school, hard-nosed’ football

The Steelers defensive tackle has a good answer for why the Steelers and Ravens have been so dominant over the years.

Sunday’s showdown will not only be epic because the Steelers and Ravens are two powerhouse defenses, but because they’ve been among the best for years.

When ESPN’s Steelers reporter Brooke Pryor asked the traits of a truly successful defense, even as players and coaches change, tackle Tyson Alualu answered simply, “It’s that old school, hard-nosed football. Both teams, both organizations pride themselves on that.”

Hard-nosed has been their signature style for decades. More recently, since 2015, the Steelers have averaged 10th in both points and yards allowed. This season, the defense leaped to sixth and first, respectively.

The Ravens have averaged ninth in points allowed and sixth in yards allowed during that same span. This season, the defense is first in points and ninth in yards.

And so, four days from now, the Steelers with sixth-most points scored will go head-to-head versus the defense allowing the least.

Expect a knock-down-drag-out battle in Baltimore on Sunday — as if you weren’t already.

Stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference

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Quiet efficiency is the name of the game for perfect Pittsburgh

The Steelers are getting it done offensively in 2020.

The Steelers have a perfect record, but you won’t find Ben Roethlisberger, JuJu Smith-Schuster or James Conner on any leader boards. They aren’t putting up ridiculous numbers or breaking statistical records. They aren’t the talk of national sports shows or making splash plays.

They are quietly getting it done.

At this point in 2018 — the last comparable season — the Steelers offense was enjoying 2,927 yards of offense. Big Ben had already put up 2,290 air yards, Conner, 599 and JuJu, 594 yards.

This year, Ben is at 1,446, Conner, 451 and JuJu, 279 yards.

One of the biggest disparities is in fourth-year receiver’s numbers, which have taken a nosedive over the past two seasons. For Smith-Schuster, standing alone as the only undefeated team in the league far outshines yards or receptions per game.

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“I’m happy being 5-0,” Smith-Schuster told the Pittsburgh media last week. “People tell me you only got me two points this week in fantasy. I’d rather have two points and be 5-0 than be 1-5 and have 25 fantasy points.”

“You never know when it’s going to be your time. We know every week we have guys who are ready to go.”

2020 has been a season of efficiency and balance for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Instead of one or two big-play guys, Roethlisberger shares the wealth — he has 10 different targets to spread the ball around.

It may be a regression in the stat books, but the 6-0 record surely proves that Pittsburgh does not care about passing, receiving and rushing yards. They care only about knocking off the opponent in front of them.

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