Mike's Beer Bar War Room: Early (and promising) impressions on offense

LATROBE, Pa. -- After watching the heat acclimation portion of the Steelers' training camp, there are several offensive schematic observations worth noting. 

And, folks, they are encouraging. 

It is still early, of course, and NFL teams have yet to really get into serious hitting. Let’s not forget that. And, in turn, the offense is working much more on passing game concepts rather than mauling people with the ground game. Nevertheless, a few things stand out with Matt Canada’s offense.

One trend that matured out right away was that the offense, often from 11 Personnel (one running back, one tight end), regularly is breaking the huddle in empty with only Kenny Pickett in the backfield and in the shotgun. In many instances, the running back not only isn’t lined up in the backfield after huddling but also is even lined up outside the numbers in a traditional wide receiver alignment. 

Then, in most cases, Pickett motions the back toward the formation, usually bringing him into the backfield. That forces the defense to show its hand as a very strong man/zone indicator. It also implies that the Steelers realize that Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren and Anthony McFarland are all potentially strong pass catchers -- which is very much the case:

Harris makes a spectacular one-handed grab in overtime in Baltimore during his rookie season. This is something Harris -- with his rare catching radius -- did routinely at Alabama, as well as in training camp. But, we have yet to see a lot of it on game days. However, it absolutely could still be in the cards. 

Further indication that they are planning on using these three running backs as receivers more often in 2023 is we are seeing more "pony packages" than last year with more than one back on the field at the same time. McFarland is clearly third on the running back depth chart, but practices indicate that they have a role in mind for him this year as a big play threat, something that was lacking from this group of running backs last year. 

Overall, the Steelers are flush with skill position players, so getting playing time might not come easy for McFarland, who, unlike Benny Snell, isn’t a core special teams player. But, expect his participation with this offense to jump dramatically. 

McFarland saw the field for only 21 snaps in 2022 and only touched the football eight times. He's effective as a route runner out of the backfield or detached. He also is dangerous as a jet sweep option and should help freeze the defense even when he doesn’t get the ball in this capacity. 

The Steelers ran jet sweeps at the highest percentage of any offense in the league last year. That needs to change, but it doesn’t mean the threat of that play call shouldn’t still exist. It looks like the they have a plan for McFarland this year. 

McFarland has been a bit of a forgotten player, but don’t underestimate his potential contributions in the passing game or his overall big play ability. 

Here is a good example of McFarland aligned from a wide receiver position and causing the Ravens' defense obvious problems:

The other guy who stands out practice after practice that the Steelers absolutely have a plan for is Connor Heyward. 

Heyward, a core special teams player, played 175 offensive snaps in his rookie season and touched the ball just 14 times. Those numbers could triple this season. 

Call Heyward a fullback. Call him a tight end. It really doesn’t matter. In fact, that ambiguity works to his advantage as opposing defenses could struggle to label him and adjust accordingly with their defensive personnel choices when he is on the field. He can carry the ball, but that is likely going to be a very small portion of how he helps the Steelers' offense. But, don’t forget that he carried the ball 118 times for 529 yards and five touchdowns at Michigan State. 

Much like the 49ers’ Kyle Juszczyk, Heyward is an offensive weapon that is difficult to account for. He’s just a good football player. Much like the running back strategy mentioned above, Heyward is sometimes lining up as an outside wide receiver and then motioning back to the formation. A better blocker than Harris, Warren or McFarland, Heyward can crack edge defenders, act as a lead blocker or create misdirection on running plays in this capacity. 

But, Heyward can also stay on the outside and, if he gets a linebacker across from him, win one-on-one matchups downfield. But, where Heyward is really shining is between the numbers. He certainly does not have a typical tight end body type, but his route running is superb with his overall quickness, attention to detail and low center of gravity. 

Heyward is routinely winning on crossing routes, as well as occasionally splitting the seam downfield between the numbers. And, he offers value after the catch. 

Here is a perfect example of the difficulty of defending Heyward when he is in motion before the snap as well as his body control to haul in a poorly thrown ball:

Middle-of-the-field passing was a huge problem area for this passing game last year. Heyward’s uptick in usage should help this matter, but it is also clear that Canada is calling far more in-breaking routes and concepts to attack between the numbers thus far. 

The Steelers threw between the numbers on just 20% of their passing attempts in 2022, a very low percentage. It was obviously an extremely small sample size, but in this area of the field, Pickett did well in the short and deep portions, but poorly between 10 and 20 yards. In fact, his passer rating from under 10 yards was 83.6 (league average was 92.2) and his completion percentage was 69.3% (league average was 71.7%). In the middle of the field over 20 yards, Pickett had a passer rating of 149.3 and a completion percentage of 63.6%. League averages were 82.6 and 40.1%, respectively. 

But again, the true middle portions of the field were very problematic. Pickett’s passer rating between the numbers between 10 and 20 yards was just 44.5 compared the league average of 87.5. And his completion percentage of 32.1% was well below the NFL average of 53.6%. Work in that area of the field must be done.  

And you know what? That is exactly what the Steelers have been working on. Adding Allen Robinson and Darnell Washington should certainly help Pickett in the middle of the field, as well as the red zone -- another problematic area of the field for Pickett in his rookie year. But, after watching training camp practices, Canada is clearly drawing up and implementing many more passing concepts for the middle of the field. 

This passing attack was woefully short on in-breaking route concepts last year. Pickett ranked dead last in target rate on slant routes -- one of the easiest routes to complete and most difficult to defend -- at just 2.2% of his attempts.

In Canada’s two years as offensive coordinator, the only team with fewer passing yards between the numbers on throws at least five yards downfield than the Steelers (1,945) are the Bears (1,786). The total pass attempts over that two-year stretch are 1,235 for the Steelers (sixth-most in NFL) compared to 919 for Chicago (last in NFL).  

That looks to very much be changing. Also, Robinson has created a presence in this department, and as mentioned, as has Heyward. Pat Freiermuth is already established, but could take another step towards stardom this upcoming year (he looks tremendous in practice). And, if these acclimation practices are any indication, we should see more in-breaking routes downfield from George Pickens, another very encouraging change in strategy. 

Again, this was just still the acclimation period. Things really rev up this week. But the changes we wanted to see from this passing game look to be taking shape.