{"id":889336,"date":"2026-05-12T15:48:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T15:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/889336\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T15:48:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T15:48:19","slug":"thats-one-im-not-sure-about-chris-simms-skeptical-about-steelers-oc-hire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/889336\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;That&#8217;s One I&#8217;m Not Sure About:&#8217; Chris Simms Skeptical About Steelers&#8217; OC Hire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chris Simms isn\u2019t convinced Mike McCarthy got it right by hiring Brian Angelichio to be his right-hand man and offensive coordinator. Though McCarthy will serve as the gameday play caller, Angelichio has a key role in game planning and preparation to put McCarthy in the best position once the ball is kicked off. Simms doesn\u2019t know if it\u2019ll work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not sure about Brian Angelichio,\u201d Simms told co-host Connor Rogers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vhPUNGAIl2c\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">on his Unbuttoned podcast.<\/a> \u201cI hope I said that right. That\u2019s one I\u2019m just not sure about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Simms, by the way, did not pronounce it correctly. It\u2019s an-juh-LEEK-o, though most players<a href=\"https:\/\/steelersdepot.com\/2026\/02\/the-big-book-of-brian-angelichio\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> just call him \u201cCoach Ang.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, Simms didn\u2019t detail why he\u2019s skeptical of Angelichio. There\u2019s a couple of potential reasons. Pittsburgh is the first time he\u2019s worn an offensive coordinator title since his days at D-III Ithaca in early-to-mid 2000s. He served as an interim OC for one game while at the University of Pittsburgh and, most recently, held the passing game coordinator title the last four years with the Minnesota Vikings, but it\u2019s his first OC job at the NFL level.<\/p>\n<p>Based on pure results, the Vikings passing game had its peaks and valleys. In 2024, the group shined under Sam Darnold. Last year, it cratered under J.J. McCarthy. Even during Minnesota\u2019s best years, aspects of situational football underwhelmed. Only once in Angelichio\u2019s four seasons did the Vikings finish top half in red-zone offense, a crucial indictor of offensive success. Even in the Vikings\u2019 2024 14-3 season, the unit finished only 19th.<\/p>\n<p>Angelichio simply doesn\u2019t have the \u201cname\u201d reputation of other offensive coordinators. He\u2019s not a tried-and-true OC with plenty of NFL experience. At 53, he\u2019s not a \u201cwhiz kid\u201d up-and-comer like <a href=\"https:\/\/steelersdepot.com\/2026\/02\/report-scott-tolzien-to-stay-with-saints-wont-become-steelers-oc\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Scott Tolzien would\u2019ve been viewed<\/a>. Angelichio falls somewhere in between.<\/p>\n<p>While Simms raised questions about Angelichio, he liked McCarthy\u2019s hire on the other side of the ball.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love Patrick Graham of the Pittsburgh Steelers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Judging coordinators is difficult. Separating the players on the field versus the play calling and behind-the-scenes coaching. For Angelichio, who won\u2019t even be calling the plays, evaluating him will be even harder. Still, if the offense shines overall, the hire will be viewed favorably, and Simms will offer praise come 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris Simms isn\u2019t convinced Mike McCarthy got it right by hiring Brian Angelichio to be his right-hand man&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":889337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[104230,5744,50484,7,6,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":["post-889336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-brian-angelichio","tag-chris-simms","tag-connor-rogers","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-pittsburghsteelers","tag-steelers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116562395345271326","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=889336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/889337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=889336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=889336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=889336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}