Based on the offensive showing the Pittsburgh Steelers had in Weeks 1-11 on the season, it’s never wise to take much of anything away from preseason football.
Of course, there was great optimism for the Steelers on the offensive side of the football coming out of August football. The Steelers lit up scoreboards in the preseason, generating a number of explosive plays, taking shots down the field and utilizing the middle of the field in the passing game.
And then, the regular season started.
Those shot plays and utilizing the middle of the field disappeared. The offense regressed hard, which led to offensive coordinator Matt Canada’s firing last Tuesday. Then, on Sunday in Cincinnati, the Steelers’ offense looked like the preseason version once again. The Steelers took shots down the field and connected on some. They also utilized the middle of the field in the passing game. All told, they rolled up 421 yards of total offense, cracking the 400-yard mark for the first time in 58 games, outgunning the Bengals in the process, the first time they’ve done that against a team all season.
That has the Pro Football Focus duo of Steve Palazzolo and Sam Monson on the PFF NFL Show quite optimistic moving forward.
“Play number one, first play shot over the middle to Pat Freiermuth up the seam. Like, this was a play that didn’t exist in the Matt Canada School of Offense,” Monson said, according to video via PFF’s YouTube page. “Like, number one play was a shot down the middle in a route that didn’t really exist under the Canada offense. They had another one, first or second drive as well. Kenny Pickett starts the game six for six. They had 149 yards in the first quarter. They were on pace for 600 after the first quarter.
“I mean, this was a different offense.”
It certainly was a different offense. There were more shot plays. The Steelers were more aggressive in taking those shots down the field. Though they were more aggressive, they were smart with the football, too.
The change in the offensive strategy and philosophy was rather telling right away, too. As Monson noted, the first play from scrimmage featured a seam route that quarterback Kenny Pickett ripped to Freiermuth between a safety and a linebacker for the Bengals, resulting in a 24-yard completion.
That gave the Steelers confidence to continue attacking there, and it unlocked a lot of other things within the offense. Those included downfield shots to Diontae Johnson and George Pickens, which the Steelers connected on for explosive plays.
It looked like the preseason offense without a doubt.
“It was the preseason offense. This is why people were optimistic about the Steelers because Kenny Pickett did throw seam routes to Pat Freiermuth in the preseason,” Palazzolo said. “I mean, this is why we were like, ‘Matt Canada’s changed.’ We were thinking he had 200 days, you know, this off season to evaluate his offense and think, ‘Oh look, there’s grass and turf in between these two numbers. It exists. We can use that. We can exploit it. We have a tight end who’s pretty good running the seam. We have George Pickens, who might be more than just a contested catch receiver who could play in the slot, which also exists in between those two numbers.’
“So, yeah, the Steelers did it. Now the humorous part in all of this is they moved the ball extremely well. Still only scored 16 points and at one point had three.”
There was an openness to the Steelers’ offense Sunday. Pittsburgh was aggressive with the football, had great balance overall and really seemed to put a lot of trust in Pickett to make big-time throws. He delivered on that Sunday and has optimism soaring coming out of the 16-10 win.
While the Steelers moved the ball and looked good doing it, the inability to finish drives with touchdowns remains a concern. Still, progress is progress, and the Steelers made plenty of that on Sunday on the offensive side of the football in the first game post-Matt Canada. That’s encouraging.
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