Film Room: Steelers OC Arthur Smith’s Windback Counter Run Concept

Derrick Bell |

Updated: Jul 20, 2024

With the Pittsburgh Steelers hiring Arthur Smith as their new offensive coordinator, it was obvious that they were shifting to a zone based rushing attack. But every good offense needs built in counters to throw defenses off balance. One of his favorite changeup concepts is windback counter, which can be run from various different personnel groupings and alignments. In 2023, Atlanta ripped off several explosive plays on these calls.

SN analyst Derrick Bell breaks down how Smith sets this play up, why it works and how it fits with Pittsburgh’s current personnel on offense. From a defensive perspective, this play is a nightmare to defend because of the misdirection element, particularly how it affects the second level defenders. Smiths variation is fluid and incorporates pullers into a zone-based counter. In the last couple of seasons, we’ve seen the organization draft multiple offensive lineman who are good in space, most notably center Zach Frazier who will play a key role in making this concept successful.

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