4 things Steelers must do to improve the offensive line in 2021

Diversify the offense

I don’t think hardly anyone was surprised that Randy Fichtner’s scripted short passing attack proved to be ineffective this year. While Fichtner no doubt used the short passing game as a replacement for a rushing attack that did not exist in 2020, there are better ways to go about this. Pittsburgh must diversify their offense in order to be more successful on the ground.

This means being able to do a number of things they didn’t in 2020, such as effectively passing the ball down the field, running more play-action and stretch zone, and even letting Ben Roethlisberger take the reigns in the hurry-up offense – anything to throw off the usual, predictable routine of this lackluster offense.

When the deep passing game was working early in the season, Pittsburgh found terrific success on the ground – rushing for over 100 yards in five straight games to start the season. However, as defenses caught on to the short passing game, they brought more defenders in the box – which, in turn, hurt the rushing attack. Without even adding more talent, the Steelers could at least help improve the offensive line some by putting them in better, less predictable situations when running the football.