Aaron Rodgers & DK Metcalf: Is This Steelers Offense UNSTOPPABLE?! 🤔

Aaron Rodgers & DK Metcalf: Is This Steelers Offense UNSTOPPABLE?! 🤔

what we’re seeing out of the Steelers offense with DK Mechaf and Aaron Rogers. Is it sustainable or have they just turned a corner for now? James Palmer, Steve Smith with you for another episode of 89. Steve, it’s been interesting for the Steelers so far. We’re going to get specifically into DK and Aaron Rogers and this passing game and how we are seeing something different uh in this year with him with Arthur Smith. But real quick to recap, they’re they’re 3-1. Uh they’ve been outscored 98 to 96, but they are 3-1. Um and here’s the interesting part. They they got um the Browns and then Jake Browning and the Bengals in a 5-day stretch after this buy leading in. They could be 5- one heading in to a game against the Packers. That could be potentially where they stand. I want your initial take though on what you’ve seen through these first four games with what this Steelers offense identity is. So, let me ask you though before I answer, what are you really looking for? Because I feel like this is a little bit of a trap question as you snicker like you know something I don’t know. No, I just think we it was one of the things we were also curious about as Aaron Rogers was weighing his options more or less, but he was talking to Mike T the whole time, right? And Arthur Smith was working on a specific offensive philosophy for Aaron this entire time because they knew they were going to get him. No, no, no. They were working on the philosophy for Aaron because the two quarterbacks they were dealing with prior being Justin Fields and Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson is what dramatically different the way they look at the field, how they break down the coverage, uh what they see. Do they sit in a pocket long enough to go through all the progressions? No. No. quarterback goes through every single progression every single time. So, I’m not saying that, but there are times where you have to go through progressions and have to give and see a certain look to the defense, whether it’s a RPO game, making sure you follow with the RPO and then get your eyes up and then go to the to the left or to the right, wherever is designated for the ball to be placed. However, the pre snap and during the snap responsibilities by the quarterback is paramount very much so. And I think the flexibility of Arthur Smith uh shouldn’t be underscored here. He he’s a guy who’s worked with a lot of different quarterbacks. Right. Marcus Mariota, uh Justin Fields, Ryan Tanahill, Ryan Tanahill, Matt Ryan, Matt Ryan. Then you go with when he was in Atlanta, you have Marcus Mariota again, Desmond Ritter. Mhm. Yeah. So, it he’s had to deal with a lot of different quarterbacks. And not all quarterbacks are made the same. They’re not all difficult. They’re not all easy. However, they all do come with their set of problems or deficiencies just like every human being has where no one’s perfect. Exactly right. And I talked to a coach that actually was in Green Bay with Lafleur and was like, I I could see this marriage actually working really well because remember the floor was with Arthur in Tennessee. Yep. And so the style and some of the verbiage and some of that that offense that the two of them kind of know could carry over between the two. And then I was told his time with Matt Ryan, much more of a similar quarterback to to Rogers than the other guys we mentioned, right? Do stuff at the line of scrimmage. Let your quarterback see some things. Let him let him kind of read these defenses like you mentioned. And I think what we’re seeing honestly is there was a couple of goals to my understanding to get through this year. It was listen, he he’s 41. We’ve seen him get banged up. We’ve seen him, you know, play well by the end of last season. Honestly, a lot of people around the league I talked to thought he was playing well by the end of last season, but we got to have him healthy by the end of the year. We got to get the ball out of his hands and we got to make sure we can try to run the ball efficiently and try to play to some of the other strengths that we have within our personnel. So, to me, what stands out so far is they are just they’re just not going downfield a at all. Um he’s got six balls this year that have gone over 20 air yards, Steve. And he’s completed one six balls and he’s completed uh one of them. Um let’s get to the to the downfield, I guess, aspect right now and and see what’s working, what’s not working in that in that in that space. Well, well, let’s go back though in in this play and look at what’s going on, right? So, it looks like a clean pocket, but watch when Aaron Rogers delivers a football and how his body is. Well, first of all, he’s going underneath. Now, could he go deep? Yes. But meaning for you to go deep, you have to set your feet, be able to follow through. Can you tell is he able to set his feet and follow through? No, but he doesn’t. Most of his most of his career he hasn’t had to. Exactly. But but he still also think about it. He is Go back. Go go go go go go back. Look at how he’s falling backwards. He has his feet set originally. He’s falling back but he’s still at 41. Has the arm strength. He really does to get the ball 20 plus yards down the field. Even though it’s not on target, man, we’ve seen this by some other people. That ball’s deflected or that ball is whimpering barely past the line of scrimmage and then they’re looking at, hey, that’s intentional grounding because he wasn’t outside the tackle box. Yep. Now, I I do think it’s fair to say, right? Let’s get some some some statistical numbers that should be fair to look at. Well, first of all, under pressure, 36 drop pack drop back passes, 27 attempts, only 10 completions. That’s 37%. One touchdown, two interceptions. But here’s the crazy part. 25% of pressures are equaling up to sacks, which puts him at only four first downs. Obviously, when a pock is clean, Captain Obvious, he’s has 27 first downs, right? 85 drop backs, 81 completions, 64 uh 81 attempts, 64 completions, almost 80% with 627 yards, yards per attempt, 7.7, seven touchdowns, uno interceptions, but a quarterback rating at 122 uh.6, six, but under pressure that’s leading to 25% of the sacks. My man quarterback rating is 39. So, what is that? Okay, Steve. What are you saying with that? What I’m saying? Thank you. You said it so I didn’t have to. What I’m saying is 42% of his attempts, 46 of them 36 completions are short. nine 0 to nine yards, 360 yards with 121 quarterback rating and 12 first downs. Mhm. He doesn’t have time to throw the football. That man has been ragdog all over the field. And I got and that was part of that was part of what we were looking at. That was part of the offensive philosophy cuz they had some question marks on the line coming into this game. Question marks being nice. I got a play right now to bring up that play, John, that shows ball is on the 10 yard line in the red zone. Now, pause it. So, you have motion. motion is is paramount against the Minnesota Vikings because Brian Flores does an exceptional job of lining everybody up playing zone coverage, playing man coverage, trying to figure out, making you overthink and stop you from confirming where you go at the snap of the football and discovery. So, you have everybody lined up. Now, this doesn’t help because they’re now in a what we call condensed formation. Nobody other than other than the guy in motion is outside of the numbers. So, understandations this year, Steve, what’ you say? They love these condensed formations this year. They because the condensed formations gives Aaron an opportunity to throw the football quickly because look at this. He’s in shotgun formation. want. He goes all of a sudden, bang, he has a defender in his face as he’s under two. As he’s looking down the field now look at this. So boom, they’re going. Hold on. Pause it. They just signal to me. Lucy, Lucy, Lucy, Lucy. That means we’re sliding left. Lucy, we go to we go in motion. Pause. Pause. Now, so there are two little tails. So, this is my offensive mind now. Mhm. This is where I This is where I get down, right? This is This is where I play some football. All right. So, when you go back 73, I think that’s the lineman with the long hair. You got the DTack on the end. Look at the end. This wide technique. However, you also have over 80 the tight over Washington um the big offensive lineman who’s 300 and some pounds who they do a really good job of adding him into the mix and he’s an outstanding blocker. Some people believe that he just needs to call it a day and start playing tackle because of how nice of a blocker he really is. They go jumbo a lot. Yep. Right. So you got the nickel who’s outside of his weight class. So he’s looking like he’s going to blitz. Then you have the wide end on the right side. So right now in the box you have one, two, three, four, 66. You can’t see him. There’s somebody right there. One, two, three, four, five, six. Slash the middle linebacker. That’s seven people in the box with 1 2 3 4 5 and 81 right there. So that’s six people now. Seven versus six. Who’s going to win? You love to play that numbers game. Okay. Hopefully Pat. Oh, go back. Go back. Go back. You remember I said there was at these the end and a nose over 73. If you go backwards, they had a little conversation. Look. See how they look at each other? The look over. Yep. The lookover means I got your guy. You 77. I’m going to engage him. Hey, that’s called a te. That means they’re switch tackle and end. Watch them go. See how he gets out his lang comes underneath. Mhm. Aaron ragd doll. Ragd doll. And that that has to do with understanding. Now I said TE but it was uh ET stunt where the the end goes in bang they go underneath. My point is that Aaron Rogers doesn’t have enough time to throw the ball deep. Arthur Smith has done a really good job of saying, “Hey, even though our offensive line is not where we want it to be as of today, I can put Aaron Rodgers in company in good positions to still move the football down the field.” And it did not hurt, but only helped that Gainwell was able to play. Oh yeah. Such a high level of run of football that that took a lot of pressure off the passing game. And that’s what you want to see from your guys, but more and less is, you know, you got a a quarterback who is under duress. Doesn’t matter the age. Every all quarterbacks get a little antsy. I don’t care how many Super Bowls you have. I don’t care how much, you know, patience you say you have in front of the camera. Joe Joe Flacco is known for being Joe Cool. But here’s how you know when someone is is is a little bit indecisive. Watch their feet. Are their feet here or right? Oh, are they are they doing that? And if if you go back, you can see Aaron, he started to do that a little bit just because there’s defenders in his face, right? Mike Mike Rob used to always say, “Man, when you can get a quarterback off his spot,” because Mike Rob played a quarterback in high school and his first his first year in college in Penn State. And he said, he used to always tell me, “Steve, when a quarterback gets off his spot, that is when you can make a quarterback compromise and do things that will jeopardize the production of the offense. especially timing offenses for sure. Um and and I think what they’re utilizing, Steve, like that game, we looked at a couple plays from the Vikings. They the furthest they threw a ball was 15 yards. They didn’t throw a ball 20 yards, but what they’re taking advantage of, if you ask around, is like it’s how they’re built and the strengths of their quarterback. You mentioned the size that they’re built with, and we’ll get to that with the size of DK, but also with the strengths of their quarterback. Nobody’s getting rid of the football quicker than Aaron Rogers this season. It’s partially due to what you’re describing with the pressure. It’s partially due to this short passing game they’re working on. And it also plays in, I think, to a major strength that Aaron still has. And that is not going anywhere, which is how quickly he thinks, how quickly he processes. Facts. He sees everything so quick. That doesn’t stop. Like that when you get older, that doesn’t change for him. He still enhance. Exactly. He’s seen everything. Really, you see everything in enhance. And what it’s here’s here’s the thing that some people don’t understand about older players. There are but you got to already know what you’re doing as a younger player before when you get older cuz if you don’t know what you’re doing when you be get older. Mhm. You’re not going to be able to get yourself out of these pickles when you have less athleticism. True. So when you have when you become older, it’s like what they say when people lose a sense, it heightens the other ones. Yeah. And let me ask you this. When when you were at the end of your career, how fast did the game feel? Uh I was able to I was able to manipulate the game. Crazy. Exactly. And I think Aeron’s working with that right now, right? little eye looks, little movement with his head, all these things. What what what you also do is you only have a few of the young man plays in you. And what And what do I mean? What do I mean by those special plays? as you get older and you you lose your athleticism or you lose whatever your superpower is for me was was speed. Okay. So there would be out of 70 plays there would be 15 plays I can go go now obviously when you’re younger you can go all 70 right but you could go go but you also realize and pick and choose man I I’m not my responsibility on this play is to run by this guy and attract this cross the face of the safety so the underneath route or cross the face of this linebacker who’s going to want to tag me as I’m going past him. And so that’s just enough to slow him down to open it up for someone else. Mhm. Well, as I got older, it was like, “Yo, hey, Joe, don’t waste this go route now. I only got I only got about two more left in the game, and it’s the first quarter.” Yeah. Right. And so it it’s Send us my way. Yes. So, you have to you have to be able to as a coach know what your player does well. And when you call it, you got to make sure it counts. Mhm. True. I get that. I get that. I don’t think they’ll they’ll just not take any shots this year. I just think they got to figure out those those shots. Um listen, he Well, you got to block him up, too. Now, you can’t draw shots at Aaron. I don’t care how old Aaron is. He could be 41 or 21. Hey, you mentioned Nobody likes to get Nobody likes to get ragdalled on a consistent basis and says, “Hey, give me another coach.” Mhm. Yeah. I I get I get it. And And also remember a lot of the shots that he took in his career downfield have been off of him scrambling, which he’s doing a little bit less for a variety of reasons for sure. And that used to be some of those shots. And there’s also that creativity. Steve, this is what I’m curious about with them in the red zone. They were so bad in the red zone a season ago with the two quarterbacks you mentioned earlier, one of the worst in football. And now this is talk about superpowers. That’s always been one of Aaron’s superpowers is red zone dissection, extending plays, but now it’s it’s it’s a lot of here in terms of what they can get done quickly. Um, the reason that we’re the other reason I wanted to talk about this is what we’re seeing so much of them do offensively is I mentioned the condensed formations. They’re going jumbo a lot. You’re seeing DK inside the numbers a lot and they’re attacking the middle of the field. Why do you see them attack the middle of the field so much? Is it because of the size advantage with a receiver like DK? Is it because of how they’re built? What do you see with the the amount of times they’re they’re they’re attacking the middle of the field and having success with it? Well, a little bit is how the defenses are playing them, right? They know DK has the ability to run a ton of routes on the outside. So, let’s it’s not give up the big play. When you look at DK Medav in the past, non-AR Rogers, what was the big play? The play he just made, right? You take away it running an in route and you substitute it for a go route and that’s a typical DK Metav play with the Seattle Seahawks. Is that not correct? Yeah. And what are and what are DC what are DC’s doing now? Give them the inside. Like don’t just do not get beat on the go. Just don’t get beat on the go. Now look at that. They put them at the number three knowing that they’re going to get some pressure. This is one step. Boom. That you know what that’s called? That’s a hot route, right? You remember a wedding crashers? Hey, hot route. Hot route. Hot route. Hot route. Red seven. Red seven. He’s like, I don’t know what red seven mean though. Are you talking about? Yeah. So, kudos to That’s pre- snap right there, right? Kudos to Arthur Smith, the offensive coordinator, understanding and making adjustments. We just watched football this weekend. How many games do we see the lack of adjustments made by offense and defenses all day long? Steve, how quick is this ball out on every one of these plays? We’re looking at zip. It got some pizzazz on it. Look at how many of these are decided. Look how many guys Oh, go back. I can tell you what DK saying in there. Yeah. Uh-huh. What? Hey, come on, little guys. Because here’s why. When he keeps going, Kevin, keep going. Watch one of the guys still try to stop him and he’s going. Look. Oh, man. You let it go. He’s He’s They’re just holding them up. Holding them up. Look at him. Mhm. But these balls, this is the one of This is the 80 yard touchdown. Yes. And this is how they’re living right now with yards. Watch this finish though. Look at Austin gives a little block. Watch this fist. Yow. Yeah, I’m in there. There was no way once he was started going down that sideline he wasn’t getting in. I mean, he was moving. Yes, he was. And this is how this offense is working, Steve. And that’s why this is such a fun topic because this these yards after the catch. They’re number one in the NFL in Yak. Listen, and don’t think that that play like is is the reason they’re number one in Yak. They were before that game. They they’ve been the best Yak team in football because of a lot of these things. And and before we get specifically into that, all these quick throws that we’re seeing that are they just magnified because of DK’s size, like that’s a with his ability to just can just put his head down and go downfield with his size on a lot of these quick throws, they’re they’re double the yardage of what most receivers would get, right? Just because he, you know, he’s falling forward and you know, he’s taking somebody with him. DK knows where he needs to be and he’s worked with his quarterback enough and they had a lot of work in the off season to kind of fill each other out to see chemistry is extremely important with the wide receiver between a wide receiver and a quarterback. And why the chemistry is so important has a has a little bit to do with knowing what each other is thinking without talking because the quarterback is under center or directing or giving uh the mic linebacker the responsibility. So they say it’s a lot of dummy calls. Yes, it’s a lot of dumb part because he’s also trying to see and figure out Arthur Smith is doing a good job of some kind of shift in motion that gives an indication on man or zone. Mhm. How are they going to handle this and all of a sudden now you know what’s going on and the quarter the corner who’s covering the wide receiver does something that benefits the wide receiver that he likes. and they already know what play they’re running, defense doesn’t. Mhm. So now they have a audible or the conversations of, hey, when this guy is like this and I when this guy is sitting inside and I got a slant, man, why are you going to make it more difficult for me? Cuz I got to cross his face. You got to RPO. So, you’re not going to be able to you have your back turned or your eyes to the linebacker to sell the RPO, man. Hey, he’s lined up inside. I got this quick slant or I got a you know, I got a slant or underneath route. Hey, let’s let’s switch it up. Yeah, not even taking a step. Yeah, give me give me to go. and and sometimes they’ll tell a running back, hey, we’re not even doing an RPO. We’re throwing it. We’re throwing it deep right now. And you talking about DK and what he, you know, what he does and how when targeting DK f first of all, he has 12 first downs. Quarterback rating 143. That’s okay. That’s decent. Okay. I was like, “You’re looking at me cross.” I was. It’s all right. Nine contest, nine contested catches, attempts, five nine contested targets. Five of them he’s come down. So almost 56%. Mhm. Right. Two missed tackles, which DK doesn’t force miss tackles. He just runs the defender over. Yeah. Right. But but here’s here’s what’s a little bit that that you can say. Think about this. Average depth to target for DK right now is 7 and a half yards. Yak after the reception 12 and a half. He’s out wide 78% of the time. He’s been in a slot 26% of the time. I think that 26 is going up a little bit. Yeah. So, um, but I mean DK is DK’s, you know what I call them? Swallow bones. So, but see, swole, you say swole bones. Swallbones. Sw I like that. Yeah, that’s good. Um, you were really good after the catch. Don’t tell people that, please. What What we know the strengths that DK has as a as a receiver. What can the quarterback do to make your life easier so you can do something with the football specifically and and and it it pertains to this because there’s a lot of these throws are in in smaller spaces for him to do do something with the football. One of the things, the main thing that really helps what we’re seeing by with DK and Aaron Rogers, you have to understand, is a lot of the rapport they’re building is really off of guys that you already know. So Joey Porter Jr., they’re going against each other. I think it’s the kid is Pierre who almost who came almost came up with the pick with the late throw uh with too much air that Carson Wentz put on the football. These guys know DK. They eat breakfast together, they eat lunch, they they have, you know, coach Tomlin has old school training camp. So they go off to Latroe, Pennsylvania, and they stay at the college. So they have the old school we have to re we have to build rapport with each other. You don’t have the technology and the distractions of the life of the city. You just play football, eat football, sleep football, and get up and do football again. I think we’ve both been there, Steve. I mean, they eat in the old school cafeteria together. We’ve been in that cafeteria. They’re in there. They do. why some of these teams are having an ugly September. It’s awful October. It starts to get a little bit better in November. And by December, they’re kind of figuring out because they don’t have here’s what they don’t have. Hit me. They don’t have calluses. The new school player does not have calluses. Do you want to know why? Because Huh? CBA. Well, n I’m I’m as a former player rep, I’m not going to allow you to uh throw the CPA the CBA CBA under the bus, right? Cuz I love my benefits. Just want to tell you. Um I’m just saying the practice structure is just a little Well, the but here’s all it’s the freaking technology. They all got GPS and the GPS says when they hit this target and they have this many miles and this much running shut down. Hey, shut them down. Yeah, bro. Shut them down. That’s when we used to get started because the old adage used to be, hey, what does fatigue make out of you? A coward. You start to get tired. Your mind, you have brain farts or memes, mental errors. These young pups are now like think about this. We do our breakdowns. Yep. We do our breakdowns every year now and we are going to start early this year too. Mhm. There are some kids who are right now gonna be seventh round draft picks, fifth round draft picks that are playing college football right now, making half a million dollars and doesn’t even know how to beat press coverage. Well, that’ll be in the breakdowns. Like, think about it. So, if you’re getting paid half a million dollars for NIL in college and you can’t even beat press coverage, then you get drafted, why would you have to do the hard work? You’ve already made these young Bucks don’t they do not want to experience the regular season. They only want to play in the Super Bowl. Well, I think and that’s what I mean by calluses further, Steve. They don’t want to chop wood. They chop wood. Get my hands dirty. And here’s why. You mean I got to take my jury off. Oh yeah, cuz now every player has Every player now is playing in jury. Every player got a necklace blinging. I don’t understand how you could play in a necklace, but I also played a little bit more physical. True. And you know, Talib’s gonna snatch a necklace. That he took crab trees. That That was That Now that’s not fair because that was that was that’s a more of an inside story that we will never reveal. Don’t Oh, man. Um but no, I I get what you’re saying. Yeah. Um, and back to what we were saying though, don’t put DK in that group that’s not putting the work in. Right. Oh, he puts in the work. He puts in the work, man. He work he works his tail off. And so, you’re saying this environment has maybe been a factor in in this quick start with these two because a lot of what you’re you were seeing even these plays, it’s a little look or just a little understanding of and Aaron’s just like balls out and that has to do with that has to do with communication in the meeting rooms. Hey Aaron, what would you like? Hey, hey, swole Bones, I need you to really do this because when they bring it, I’m throwing it right now. The question is now, where do you want it? Yes. You want it here, chest, down low. You right. If I throw you if if you if you sit down in zone coverage and I throw the ball to your right shoulder, that means you catch the ball and turn to your right shoulder because the defender is on your left shoulder behind you, but you can’t see him. Mhm. And vice versar still do all these things, Steve, in this short game. Can he still That is I mean, he’s old he is a old school West Coast guy. So that’s my point. the the personnel and the strengths are matching up for what they’re doing and the fundamentals of the offense. I don’t care how much like Shawn McVey has a updated version play call of the West Coast offense. Yes. Okay. And Aaron Rodgers was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the old school West Coast offense. Mike McCarthy Mike McCarthy, you know, the story is, oh, Mike McCarthy was in San Francisco, y’all drafted uh Alex Smith, go Utah. Uh Alex Smith, you know, over Aaron Rodgers. But if you go back before McCarthy got the head coaching job and offensive coordinator, can you tell me who was the offensive coordinator before that? No. Sherman, who is an old school West Coast guy? They all were in the same family. And who when Sherman or before Mayor Yuchi went to San Francisco, where was he at? Green Bay with Andy Re. old old school West Coast Bill Walsh fundamental football. It all has a foundation and a base and that’s where that foundation and base has started. So you can you can change it up and get Puka like they’re doing in that personnel, but it’s still drag slant. It’s it now they may not call it Mesa Zipper. They just call it F drive, Z drive, or under. It’s still point A to point B. Same concept. Same concept. All right. Before we go then, is this sustainable what they’re doing? Yes, it’s very sustainable because it’s adjustments. So why is sustainable? Because of the adjustments. Meaning we have a game plan. Oh, it’s not working. old school. Let’s cross that out. Mhm. And let’s go ahead and make adjustments in the game. In-game adjustments. Hey fans, how many times have you beg for your teams to make in-game adjustments and they never do? So now you have teams that are making adjustments and now you’re saying, “Is this sustainable?” Yes, it’s sustainable because that tells me that they have a game plan, but they’re willing to adjust it as the game takes on its own personality and we’re going to make adjustments so we can win this football game. Yeah, I like it. I like the way they’ve attacked the middle of the field. I think Aaron believes this is the best tight end group as a whole that he’s have been around and and doesn’t get a lot of credit. He’s a heck of a football player, man. Basket continue to grow. I think that group as a whole. And then Steve, just because of the way they’re built with the size that we talked about at the at the offensive line and going those larger packages at the same time, you have DK where you have a big physical receiver that can be really dynamic in this short game that we’ve seen, but the minute you start creeping up, it’s not like he can’t beat you with the go ball. It’s not like he still can’t go downfield. And so, um, a lot of these throws are at or behind the line of scrimmage Aaron Rogers. He’s at a career low right now and on pace for that in terms of attempts, in terms of, uh, yards per game. Um, I don’t think he cares right now, Steve. I I I think he kind of has has has bought in, it looks like, to what him and Arthur Smith have come up with, and I think it’s going to be interesting to see how they kind of evolve this as the year goes on. It’s been fun to watch, and it was it was really fun to break down, not going to lie.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a brand new look with Aaron Rodgers and DK Metcalf, and the NFL is buzzing! On this episode, Steve Smith Sr. and James Palmer dive deep into the film to uncover the secrets behind their surprisingly effective offense.

*The Deep Ball Mystery:* Aaron Rodgers, known for his deep accuracy, hasn’t been airing it out this season. Steve and James break down the film to explain why Rodgers is holding back and how this is actually benefiting the Steelers’ offense.

*Arthur Smith’s Offensive Masterclass:* Is Arthur Smith finally unlocking his true potential as an Offensive Coordinator? The guys dissect his scheme, showing how he’s maximizing Rodgers’ efficiency and Metcalf’s unique skill set, leading to consistent production.

*Sustainable Success?* Can this Steelers offense maintain its hot start and be sustainable for the rest of the season? Steve and James look at the underlying mechanics, player utilization, and game script to predict their future success.

*The YAC Factor:* We dive into the importance of Yards After Catch (YAC) in this new Steelers offense, and how a top-tier quarterback like Rodgers elevates his playmakers even without throwing deep.

Don’t miss this complete breakdown of the new-look Steelers! Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

#PittsburghSteelers #Steelers #HereWeGo #AaronRodgers #DKMetcalf #ArthurSmith #NFLAnalysis #SteveSmithSr #NFLFilm #SteelersOffense #YAC #NFL2025 #FootballTalk #89Show

0:00 Rodgers + DK
4:51 Throwing Deep
8:47 Film Session
20:26 DK’s Routes

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