Steelers Could Make Changes to Offense in Bye Week

PITTSBURGH — The Steelers offense is sputtering even at 3-2 heading into the bye week. So far, the group has run the least amount of plays in the NFL in the red zone, while out of their five touchdowns, they have stunningly scored three touchdowns of 40 or more yards. It’s an odd conglomeration of stats, but the raw stats and results on the stat sheet and tape are not there. Something has to change, and in this context, I’m not just talking about anyone chanting to fire Matt Canada.

No, Kenny Pickett talked on Tuesday about some changes that could come schematically on the offensive side of the ball. Pittsburgh will self-scout over the week and likely add new things that accentuate the strengths of their players while removing plays that continuously prove to be a black hole for the group. Something has to give for the Steelers’ offense, but maybe those changes could catalyze more success.

“You can really look at it, we have to look at what we’ve done as a whole,” Pickett said. “There’s some things that we’re really not doing well, and if they’re, you know, kind of, beating our head on the wall, then let’s take it out and not do it. If there’s something we feel like we can add to this group and we have the guys that could put us in a position to succeed, then let’s add it. I think everything is on the table. It’s having an open mind going into it.”

That means changes should be expected. If you expect those changes to lead to any tangible difference for the Steelers, that is another story altogether. But the truth remains that several concepts must be cut down or removed from the playbook. For example, Pittsburgh can not run their duo-run series well until this year. Removing some of that in favor of more gap concepts like crunch and even counter could be a positive for a running game that is inconsistent at best. In the passing game, the idea to call sprint outs six times in one game could be halved to add more robust play-action concepts that get Pickett on the move.

These are just some ideas that come to mind when you watch the offense. Schematically, you can’t change the entire scheme, but you can change what you are doing to highlight each player’s strengths better. Remember, when everyone talks about execution, the guys being put in the position to succeed is often just as much of a contributing factor to that player working or not as innate talent. Pittsburgh needs to find a way to maximize their guys’ innate talent. It’s not a unit devoid of talent. But that group is certainly not being maximized to its fullest potential.