Three ways the Steelers can fix their offensive woes
By Eric Hassel
The Steelers offense is stagnated through eight games. What can they do to fix the offensive woes?
At the halfway mark of the 2019 NFL season, the Steelers find themselves at 4-4. Quite frankly, this is remarkable given all of the adversity with which we have had to deal this season, e.g., the loss of Ben Roethlisberger, our future Hall of Fame quarterback and the multitude of games missed due to injury by Jaylen Samuels, James Conner, and Roosevelt Nix.
The aforementioned notwithstanding, the Steelers offense is sputtering right now. Honestly, I can state the offense is sputtering or is stagnated, and that really doesn’t mean anything, which is why we will examine some metrics, according to the official website of the NFL.
Through eight games, the Steelers offense is ranked 28th in average yards per game, amassing 290.8 yards per game. The number one ranked team is averaging 436.8 yards per game. Whereas the Steelers offense is marching up and down the field less than three times per game, the number one ranked offense is marching up and down the field just about four and half times per game.
So what is ailing the offense and what can the Steelers do fix the offensive woes? I think the answers to those questions are both complex and simple at the same time. Complex in that an NFL offense is complex by nature depending on both the scheme a team runs and on the verbiage a team chooses to employ.
For example, I’m pretty sure the Steelers offense does not have a play called ’42 dive’ as I had in high school. Conceptually, a ’42 dive’ is nothing more than the running back going through ‘2’ hole, but I’m sure the verbiage is more complex.
The simple answer to the questions posed above is that the Steelers offense may just need to get back to basic, fundamental, smash-mouth football. Let’s explore three ways the Steelers offense can fix what’s ailing them.