The Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense was an unmitigated disaster on Sunday against the New England Patriots. The offense fumbled twice (and lost one), and QB Aaron Rodgers threw an interception (that was not really his fault). The Patriots’ defense sacked Rodgers four times. Analyst Sam Monson said that Rodgers looked like all the previous great quarterbacks at the very end of their careers. The run game was middling as well, gaining 91 yards on 23 runs.

Former NFL QB Matt Hasselbeck has an idea of what the Steelers need to do differently. Unfortunately for Rodgers, it means doing something that he, Hasselbeck, and even two-time Super Bowl champion QB Peyton Manning didn’t like at the end of their careers: Using more motion and shifts on offense. Even if they thought they could do it all at the line of scrimmage without it.

“Just line up, I’ll use my cadence, I’ll use my tells, I’ll know what’s going on,” Hasselbeck said Monday on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. “The selfish thing about that, looking back now, is that it was helpful to me. But I don’t think it was as helpful to my teammates. The shifts and the motions that are so helpful today really do give your teammates an indicator of what’s not going to happen or what might happen… Bottom line, it would help their run game, in my opinion, if they did use shifts and motions more, personnel groupings more.

“And then I think you’d see the best version of Aaron Rodgers. I think you’d see DK Metcalf come back to life.”

Not much went well for the Steelers’ offense against the Patriots in Week 2. As for who is to blame, well, there is plenty to go around. The offensive line struggled to protect Rodgers and wasn’t much better in the run game. Rodgers couldn’t move around as he did in his prime.

So, how does the Steelers’ offense get better? Well, Hasselbeck says they should implement more shifts and motion into the game plan. He also thinks Rodgers doesn’t want to do that, much like he and Manning didn’t at the end of their careers.

However, in order for the Steelers’ offense to be better, everyone needs to work together. If the Steelers aren’t using as much motion as they should because Rodgers doesn’t want to, that’s additional blame for the struggles on his shoulders. Plus, as Hasselbeck said, more motion would benefit Rodgers.

As for why shift and motion matter, defenses can tip their hands adjusting to formation shifts pre-snap. That can help the quarterback, but it can also help the line understand where pass rushers might be or where they need to block defenders in the run game. Motion can help wide receivers and tight ends understand the coverage better.

The Steelers need to do something on offense to get better. Otherwise, the team is wasting a very good effort by their defense through the first two weeks. Otherwise, as former NFL running back and CBS Sports analyst Damien Harris suggested, it might be better for the Steelers’ future to move on to the next phase of their quarterback plan earlier than expected.

 

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