How the Steelers Can Fix One Key Offensive Issue

PITTSBURGH — The Steelers saw their offense move in the right direction against the Cincinnati Bengals. Was it perfect? Far from it. But the team saw their yardage soar and moved the ball well. Now against the Cardinals, they hope to turn the new glimmers of hope into points. That will bring the potential into actual production, but one key thing is stopping them from putting up more points.

It is the Steelers’ red zone offense. Against the Bengals, they traveled into the red zone four times but came away with just one touchdown. That’s not good enough if they want to beat playoff teams consistently. So, they looked hard at the problem, and the solution does not appear schematic-related, but execution related.

“Well, when you get in that area, the field is shortened and space is tighter,” receiver Allen Robinson II said. “So, the details, execution, timing, all of that becomes more important. I feel like if we improve that, we can get better in the red zone. It really comes down to work each day.”

Tight Pat Freiermuth noted that the Steelers kept ‘shooting ourselves in the foot’ in the red zone against Cincinnati, and it is hard to say he is wrong. Jaylen Warren had a fumble, the timing was off just a smidge a few times, and that all led to just modest trips instead of touchdowns.

Offensive coordinator Eddie Faulkner largely agrees with that assessment. The details are lacking in the offense at a macro level still, which makes sense given the lack of time Faulkner and Mike Sullivan had to implement those details. A lot of that performance was boosted by confidence. But now, those details need to be sharper.

“We’ve got to keep getting close to those details,” Faulkner said. “When you get down in the tight red, you got 22 grown men in that tight space, the details are so much more intensified in those moments. That’s what we’re going to keep doing.”

They embraced details and a new meeting schedule to try and get things back on track. The on-the-field changes and tweaks became evident as you watched the tape, and it was the catalyst for the best yardage output the Steelers have posted in three seasons. Now, they need to find the catalyst to punch it into the end zone.