The best way to describe the Pittsburgh Steelers, on both sides of the ball, is inconsistent. But after a month’s worth of poor performances, the Steelers’ offense finally found something in the win over the Baltimore Ravens. Finally, Pete Prisco thinks, the Steelers could start to develop some consistency offensively over their final four regular- season games.
And he thinks that starts with a win over the Miami Dolphins Monday night.
“I love what I saw from [Aaron] Rodgers, and the play calling last week. They did some great things, scheming up wide-open plays,” Prisco said Wednesday on CBS Sports HQ. “And if you looked at it, the one touchdown to [Jaylen] Warren, there wasn’t a soul there. They could have thrown it to the tight end, [Pat] Freiermuth, who was also in the middle of the field wide open. And so I think they’ve got a way of grasping Arthur Smith’s offense now.”
It was far from a perfect performance from the offense. The Steelers only managed 34 rushing yards against the Ravens and were outgained on the ground by a whopping 183 yards. But the Steelers’ passing game looked much better.
One of the biggest improvements was in pass protection. The offensive line didn’t open many holes for the running backs. But Rodgers had plenty of clean pockets, something he praised the line for after the game. The Steelers have taken some deep shots earlier in the year, but most of them involved Rodgers getting rid of the ball quickly. Against the Ravens, Rodgers actually sat in the pocket, which allows those deeper throws to result in completions, like this 52-yard bomb to DK Metcalf to start the game.
It felt like Rodgers trusted his offensive line more, which allowed things to develop much deeper down the field than we’ve seen over the past month. Arthur Smith deserves some credit for scheming things up, too.
This is the play Prisco references. Considering what the Ravens were running, this is the perfect play design. The linebacker over Freiermuth blitzes, and Freiermuth could have had what would have been the easiest touchdown of his life. But Rodgers understands the coverage, and quickly dumps it off to his primary read, which is Warren. It’s never a bad idea to throw in the direction the defense blitzes from. It worked out beautifully for Pittsburgh here.
Miami plays more Cover 2 than Baltimore. So the Steelers might not take as many shots down the field Monday night against the Dolphins. But for the first time in a long time, they found some momentum through the air. It’s a tremendous improvement from the prior several weeks. If the Steelers can string some games like this together, they might look much more dangerous come playoff time.