Steelers Players Suggesting Big Offensive Changes

PITTSBURGH — The Steelers went through their entire team with a ‘fine-tooth comb’ in the bye week. That’s not revolutionary. Pittsburgh needs to make changes happen, and they know it. But more than that, the offense has to figure out some identity to latch onto throughout the rest of the season. As they are, it’s one of the league’s worst offenses, consistently setting its defense backward.

“You know the usual bye week business for us. An opportunity for self-analysis in all three phases,” head coach Mike Tomlin said. “What we do well, what we don’t do well, strategic things, how we divide the labor up. We went through those things with a fine-tooth comb as a staff. Spent some time addressing some of those things, some of the more significant things with players in the form of the two-practice opportunities that we had during that time.:

So, the players did the same. While most players left for the week on Tuesday, Najee Harris and Mason Cole did not do that. Instead, they stayed behind in the film room. Cole and Harrs reviewed every rushing play from their first five weeks. While going through that, they categorized each play in three different ways. There could be successful plays where the unit needed to improve and then ones they viewed as dead in the water. Offensive coordinator Matt Canada is seemingly receptive to players helping out that way and will accept suggestions on what to throw out of the playbook and into the playbook.

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris (22) runs against the Houston Texans during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

So, they went through that to explain in detail how they would categorize all of those runs. Harris and the offense hope it will come with a change to their offensive identity on the ground and springboard them to a successful rushing attack, much like they did last year following the bye week.

“I stayed here an extra with Mason Cole and looked at some film,” Harris said. “You know, we looked at some things we need to change and looked at some things we need to change as an offense. You know, some things like what tendencies need to change and take that to the coaches. This year, I wanted to bring in a lineman so I could talk to him about what I’m seeing and what they’re seeing so we can talk about what we need to work on to help out the team and the offense. We need to figure out what is going to be successful in these game plans. The stuff we talked about is what is happening now. There’s better looks and stuff.”

The change that Harris is likely talking about is running into lighter boxes. Pittsburgh has run out of overwhelmingly stacked boxes in the first half of the season. However, when they run out of spread looks, they find a lot of success. Box counts are a key issue for this team in the running game, and if they can solve that, not everything will be solved, but a lot of it figures to rectify itself.

The Steelers have to find a way to break tendencies and play off their strengths. When they have discovered life offensively this season, it comes with those tendency breakers and working to the offense’s strengths. How much you trust Canada to implement that is a fair question, but the bye week should provide as a sparkle of optimism for the group.