I like the possibilities here. Not necessarily of having a high-powered Steelers offense, although I can’t dismiss the idea, but rather of seeing Arthur Smith snap on somebody.
Maybe a few people need to be snapped on around here. Maybe that’s the first “pro” in the list of pros and cons in hiring Smith as the Steelers offensive coordinator.
Don’t get the wrong idea. Smith seems to be mostly a mild-mannered sort. But he clearly isn’t afraid to sound off when necessary.
Smith has inherited the third-most scrutinized position in Pittsburgh sports, behind Steelers coach and quarterback, and it often springs to the top spot. Like after the offense has fewer touchdowns than the defense through two games of a season.
Anyway, I’m all for feistiness when necessary. For one thing, maybe you won’t have receivers quitting in the middle of games — or on routes — like you did this season. Maybe you won’t have a quarterback who constantly bails the pocket and turns the wrong way, directly into defenders.
Back in November, Hall-of-Fame quarterback turned NFL Network analyst Kurt Warner delivered a fairly measured analysis of Smith’s profoundly disappointing Atlanta Falcons offense. Warner broke down a handful of plays, lamenting the fact that quarterbacks Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke were under heavy pressure from unblocked defenders and had no quick outlet passes available. Not exactly high-level X’s and O’s stuff. It seemed quite obvious.
At one point, Warner said, “Like, what are we doing here?”
Later, this: “This is just the stuff I’ve seen from Atlanta, where I was just like, man, I know Desmond Ridder might not be playing great football in just his second year, and you blame some stuff on him, but to me, there’s a lot of stuff going on here, whether it’s play design, whether it’s issues with the way guys are executing, but there’s a lot of things going on to blame everything on your quarterback.”
Smith did not appreciate the breakdown.
“I don’t care; I really don’t,” he told reporters, before demonstrating that he actually cared a lot.
“Everybody has their opinions,” Smith said. “He’s welcome to come down here to our meetings. I would actually embrace that. I’m sure he gets paid a lot of money. I could give a rat’s ass, whatever. … You have guys who get a hot take when they look at something, and that’s probably not what was intended to happen. Maybe a mistake happened (which Warner acknowledged might have been the case). I think sometimes people get a microphone and the further they’re away (from the game), they feel they know everything.
“Maybe he can solve some of the world’s problems, too.”
I kind of like the feistiness, which also emerged after the New Orleans Saints scored a touchdown on a fake kneel-down play with a victory already secured in what would be Smith’s final game as Falcons coach. He went 7-10 in each of his three seasons.
Smith angrily approached Saints coach Dennis Allen near midfield and shouted, “Why the (blank) did you do that, man? Why the (blank) did you do that? That’s (lots of blanks in a row).”
Yes, by all means, bring some of that here. But more importantly, bring some points. This offense has been one of the more embarrassing units in a proud franchise’s history for multiple years in a row.
Some pros and cons with Smith …
PRO: His offenses in Tennessee, in two years as the Titans’ coordinator, hummed to the tune of 25.1 and 30.7 points per game. The Steelers sometimes went weeks at a time without scoring a total of 30 points under Matt Canada.
CON: It’s really hard — OK, impossible — for me not to attribute most of Smith’s success to the fact he had Michael Jordan in his backfield. That was Derrick Henry, who might be as talented as any running back who has ever lived.
It reminds me of the old Doug Collins line on Jordan, when Collins was coaching the Bulls. Somebody asked what play he called before Jordan hit a ridiculous game-winner.
“That was called, ‘Give the ball to Michael and get the (blank) out the way,’ “ Collins said.
Smith himself has referred to Henry as “Shaq in his prime,” and credit to him for recognizing what he had. Henry had his best years under Smith because he carried the ball literally 200 more times than he had in previous years.
Problem is, there’s no Derrick Henry here. Or anywhere this side of Christian McCaffrey.
PRO: Smith got the most out of Ryan Tannehill, who had a near-MVP season in 2020 with 33 touchdown passes and seven interceptions. If you see Kenny Pickett’s ceiling as Tannehill-like, that’s encouraging.
CON: If I may quote myself, “There’s no Derrick Henry here.” I’m sorry, again, but in watching those Titans teams, it seemed to me that a lot of Tannehill’s success was built on having Michael Jordan in his backfield. Give it to Henry a bunch of times, watch the defense load the box, run play-action and see hordes of open receivers.
Also, Pickett is not as good an athlete as Tannehill, who ripped off multiple runs of 40 yards or more in his career.
Also, when it came time to win the biggest games, Tannehill was a complete afterthought in Tennessee. The Titans won two playoff games during Smith’s tenure as coordinator. In one, Tannehill went 8 for 15 for 72 yards; in the other, he went 7 for 14 for 88 yards.
PRO: Hey, Smith went with what worked. That’s what really drives people nuts with coordinators — that they get away from what’s working, the way the Buffalo Bills did in their playoff loss to the Chiefs. They bludgeoned Kansas City with a power run game in the first half, then abandoned it.
Also, Tannehill had an excellent game against the Chiefs in the 2019 AFC title game, going 21 of 31 for 209 yards, two touchdowns and 108.1 passer rating.
PRO: Even amid the failure in Atlanta, Smith delivered some creative, effective rushing attacks. Not always, mind you, but look at the game against the Steelers two years ago, when Atlanta ran for 146 yards on 28 carries, led by Cordarrelle Patterson.
CON: Smith was the newest big thing in hotshot young play-callers when Atlanta hired him to breathe life into the offense. He called the plays, so he was basically the offensive coordinator, too, and he failed miserably. After finishing 16th in the NFL in points under Dan Quinn and Raheem Morris, the Falcons finished 26th, 15th and 26th under Smith.
Around the time Warner ripped the Falcons offense in November, one of the criticisms was that Smith did not get his best players the ball in the red zone.
According to a piece in The Athletic (which I’m sure Smith loved), the Falcons had run 41 plays within 10 yards of the goal line and had only given Bijan Robinson three touches and Kyle Pitts two. What happened to getting your best players the ball — and is George Pickens listening?
And if Smith is here to develop a quarterback or two, well, his best thinking had Atlanta drafting Ridder and bringing in Marcus Mariota and acquiring Heinicke. That’s concerning.
I’m more than willing to give the man a chance, but I remain perplexed as to why the Steelers were so determined to hire a coach with NFL experience as a coordinator. I’m sure they were scarred by the Matt Canada disaster, but Canada had no NFL experience of any kind.
There’s a big difference in hiring a coach who has been around the NFL, directing passing games and the like, and one who has never been in the league. The Steelers made a terrible mistake with Canada, but you know who else had no NFL experience as a coordinator before taking their current job?
Two of the hottest play callers in football: Ben Johnson in Detroit and Bobby Slowik in Houston. And plenty of others in recent years.
The idea would be to identify the right guy, as they did in Detroit and Houston. Did they do it here?
Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, get your popcorn ready.
