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The Biggest Change the Steelers Offense Can Make This Week
PITTSBURGH — The Steelers offense is searching for positive change. Without Matt Canada, they hope they can find some of that in their offense, which has enough talent to raise the bar from where they are right now. But even they must acknowledge there is only so much they can do, especially in a week.
“You can’t have wholesale changes at this point,” quarterback Kenny Pickett said. “We’re going to run the system that we’ve been using. Coach Sully and Coach Faulk, they’re going to put their wrinkle on what they want to run and when they want to run it.”
However, some things can improve, and there are three tweaks that I want to see made to this team’s offense under Faulkner and Sullivan. Will they move mountains? No, but the run game was not sparked by rolling mountains, either. So, three things that can instantly improve? Here they are.
But there might be a change they can make, and it’s not a schematic change. It’s a common-sense change. Pittsburgh’s offensive struggles have come up not just because the team has fallen flat on the schematic side of things—still, the execution of fine details, including essential communication, a massive issue. The Browns are an excellent defense, but how many times was the depth of a route off, Pickett not on the same page as a receiver, or something small? Well, the answer is, throughout the entire game, those plagued Pittsburgh. Faulkner did note he was going to make the offense more detailed and would focus on communication.
“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, 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.”
Those details need to be sharp. The communication between everyone must be sharp. If those baseline things can at least improve, Pittsburgh’s offense, which is one of the worst units in football, can improve to one that has an average all-around showing week in and week out. The good for the Steelers is that you can improve these things in a week, and certainly, the communication can be cleaned up.
Pittsburgh already cleaned up details in the run game earlier this season. A sudden surge in detail-oriented football will not make the group have an elite passing game, but it could raise it to be passable, which is all they need with the run game humming along like it is now.
FULL COVERAGE of the Steelers Firing of Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada
? News & Links: National reaction to the firing of Matt Canada. Is the pressure on Kenny Pickett now?
? Mike Tomlin said the decision to fire offensive coordinator Matt Canada was “mine and mine alone.”
? Steelers Afternoon Drive: The Steelers fired Matt Canada. Now what?
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