The Steelers’ offense has reverted to the form it displayed early in the season when they relied on field goals rather than touchdowns — and it’s not a good time for that to be happening again.
They have produced their fewest points in the past two games (37) since they opened the season with back-to-back victories against the Atlanta Falcons (18-10) and Denver Broncos (13-6).
The Steelers got away with it in September because the defense held both opponents to just one touchdown and three field goals. It might not be so easy to do now, however, because all but one of their remaining six opponents are among the top 10 scoring offenses in the league.
And, after facing the lowest-scoring team in the AFC on Thursday night, it begins Sunday when the Steelers (8-3) face the AFC’s highest-scoring offense in the past three games in Cincinnati.
The Bengals are averaging 34 points and 431.6 yards offense in their past three outings, most of that being produced by the combination of quarterback Joe Burrow — who leads the NFL with 27 touchdowns and the AFC with 3,028 passing yards — and receiver Ja’Marr Chase, who leads the league with 1,056 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Burrow has also benefitted from the return of Tee Higgins, who returned from a three-game absence to catch nine passes for 148 yards and a touchdown in their most recent game against the Los Angeles Chargers, the league’s stingiest scoring defense.
The good news: The Bengals defense has allowed 31 points and 347 yards per game over its last three. That should present a good opportunity for the Steelers’ offense to recapture some of the potency that has been missing the past two weeks.
It has been a curious reversal for Arthur Smith’s offense after the unit appeared to be gaining traction when they averaged 30.3 points in Russell Wilson’s first three starts. But quarterback play hasn’t been the problem.
Wilson is averaging 242 yards passing, has thrown seven touchdowns and brought the deep pass back to the offense. His 8.1 yards per attempt ranks seventh among the league’s quarterbacks. What’s more, he has had a 100+ passer rating in three of his five starts, including a season-high 116.7 in Cleveland when he completed 21 of 28 passes for 270 yards and brought the Steelers back from an 18-6 deficit in the fourth quarter.
Other issues are in play here, though.
It is one thing for the Steelers to want to run the ball, which they do more frequently than all but one team in the league. That is the identity they want to embrace. Their 377 rush attempts are second only to the Philadelphia Eagles.
The problem is they haven’t been productive in doing so — certainly not like the Eagles, who average an NFC-best 5.2 yards per attempt. The Steelers average 3.9 yards per carry, the third-lowest average in the league.
The Steelers spend a lot of time using personnel groupings that include tight end MyCole Pruitt, H-back Connor Heyward and even receiver Ben Skowronek for their run game. Yet they had nine runs of zero or negative yards against the Browns, two by quarterback Justin Fields and another on a red-zone reverse to Cordarrelle Patterson. They had seven when they were 4-of-16 on third down and 0-for-1 on fourth down against the Ravens.
To be fair, it’s not like the Steelers are ignoring the pass. In fact, it has been fairly balanced. They ran 34 times and dropped back to pass 33 times against the Browns. They even dropped back to pass more times against the Ravens (40) than they did run the ball (34). In each game, though, Wilson has been sacked four times.
Maybe the Steelers need to change some of their personal groupings to become less predictable with the run and take more advantage of what has been working. That is, if they want to start converting their red-zone chances into touchdowns, something at which they have not been proficient. The Steelers rank 30th in the league in red-zone scoring percentage (44.74%).
Calvin Austin III’s receiving production has also increased, and he has become more of a deep target with catches of 29, 36 and 46 yards and two touchdowns in the past five games. Van Jefferson’s reception totals are essentially unchanged from the first six games, but he has long receptions of 35 and 36 yards with Wilson.
Smith is trying to get Mike Williams more involved, too — he has played 44 snaps the past two games — but he hasn’t had a single target since his winning touchdown catch in Washington. And while the involvement of No. 2 tight end Darnell Washington in the pass game has been a plus, he should not be targeted more times (15) than Pat Freiermuth (14) as he has in the team’s past five games.
What the Steelers showed coming back in the fourth quarter against the Browns showed more than the team’s resiliency and character; it was a display of the offense’s capabilities.
Now, the Steelers will need their No. 2 scoring defense to play up to its ranking in the final six games of the regular season.
But they cannot afford their offense to lag behind.
