Steelers Offense Breaks Streak of Sub-400 Yard Games

CINCINNATI — The streak of offensive futility is over. For the first time in three years, and the first time since their game against the Cleveland Browns in the Wild Card round of the 2020 playoffs, they have eclipsed 400 yards in a game. That goes the entire tenure of Matt Canada’s stay as offensive coordinator, a whopping 45 games. It was the longest active streak in the NFL that Pittsburgh has now broken. If you do not count that, it was a crazy 58 games.

In the game, Eddie Faulkner and Mike Sullivan vowed to make teams respect the offense with a more grounded approach focused on players rather than plays. That has mixed results in putting points on the board; the yards have come naturally for the offense.

As the Steelers ‘ interim offensive coordinator, Faulkner admitted that Rome can’t be built in one day. Will the scheme suddenly look vastly different? Probably not. It’s Week 12, and some tweaks will be made to maximize the talent on the offense; not everything can suddenly be flipped. But focusing on players and the details will be critical for the team getting things going.

“Just me in general, I’m a detailed guy,” Faulkner said. “That’s how I operate. That’s how I operated the running back room, so that’s how I’m operating anything that has to do with the offense or staff. To make sure we’re squeezing down, being tightening up, closing all the space so when we go into a game the guys can execute and play fast. That’s the focus, and I feel like I can bring somebody to the table in that regard.”

That has come true, and Kenny Pickett has a season-high for passing yards, too. The offense generally looks to have a rhythm they were missing under Canada. The Steelers hope to be poised to make things happen on the scoreboard as they continue to drive into Cincinnati territory.

The details needed to change. Pat Freiermuth is now being used as a move tight end with over 100 yards receiving. It has not been all that pretty because of some questionable execution. But they never needed to do much more than get the passing game to a decent level to get the offense up a bit.