Mike's Beer Bar War Room: It's time to get Freiermuth more involved

The Steelers are 1-1. There are only two unbeaten teams in the AFC, the Dolphins and Ravens. The Steelers' win came over a division foe and their loss against an elite NFC team, the 49ers. If the playoffs started today (way too early to go down this road, of course!), the Steelers would be the sixth seed in the AFC playoffs. 

That all sounds swell, but anyone with eyeballs knows that this team needs a lot of work. That's true on both sides of the ball, but especially on offense.

According to EPA (Expected Points Added), probably the most accurate advanced stat to judge how well a team is really playing, the Steelers' offense ranks 32nd -- dead last. Only the Vikings and Raiders, the Steelers' upcoming opponent Sunday night in Las Vegas, come in worse in the NFL with their run offense. And no offense in the league is worse in EPA per dropback.

Those of you with eyeballs probably are not shocked by this information. 

But, if we are to trust EPA for judging the Steelers' offense, how about their two opponents? 

Well, only the Cowboys are ahead of the Browns in total defense. Only the Cowboys and Browns are ahead of the 49ers. Per EPA, Cleveland is seventh against the run and San Francisco is 24th. On a per dropback basis, the Browns are first and the 49ers are third. These are two excellent defenses, and it would be a major surprise if that doesn’t hold true throughout the 2023 season. 

That isn’t to excuse the Steelers' offensive woes and insufficiencies. But these are facts, nonetheless. The Steelers have played against two excellent defenses. Meanwhile, the two upcoming opponents, the Raiders and Texans, are ... not. They rank 31st and 26th in defensive EPA, respectively. Against the run, the Raiders are 31st and the Texans come in at 30th. Against the pass, the Texans are 22nd, the Raiders 28th. It gets easier, folks. 

But it won’t matter if the Steelers' offensive players and coaches don’t step up. Diontae Johnson won’t be back for either of the upcoming games. Should Jaylen Warren cut further into Najee Harris’ workload? Should the Broderick Jones era at left tackle start immediately? 

It is probably still too early for those options, but how about this little tweak: Use Pat Freiermuth.

There is a strong argument to be made that Freiermuth was the Steelers' best offensive player in 2022. So far, he only has two catches for five yards this season. He played 41 snaps against the Browns and 32 against the 49ers, a game in which he suffered a chest injury. 

Still, this 24-year-old tight end who's yet to reach his prime years, absolutely must be more involved in the offense. He’s been targeted just five times over these past two games. He also didn’t catch a pass in his final game of the 2022 season. 

Yes, this is the preseason. But it is also against the Bills' first-team defense, which is very strong at linebacker and safety. This just shows what Freiermuth is capable of and why he needs to be reincorporated back into the ailing passing attack. He’s a weapon, particularly in the middle of the field, but also after the catch. 

Frankly, the San Francisco defense was an awful matchup for Freiermuth, or any tight end for that matter. Their linebackers, Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw, along with their strong safety, Talanoa Hufanga, are the best in the league at eliminating the middle of the field in coverage. Week 1 wasn’t a Freiermuth game. 

While this wasn’t really set up to be a Freiermuth game, this play demonstrates how good he can be in tight quarters, even against the best of competition. Most tight ends can’t flip their hips around this abruptly to quickly present a big target for their quarterback. 

But, Week 2 absolutely should have been a Freiermuth game. The strength of Cleveland’s defense is Myles Garrett and all the new pieces they added around him on their defensive line. They now have an excellent front line. The Browns' top three cornerbacks were already a strength and didn’t need offseason reinforcements. However, Cleveland’s linebackers and safeties are rather average. Freiermuth should have feasted on that weakness. 

As we all know, that didn’t happen. Watching the tape, there were no indications that Freiermuth was hindered from his chest injury from the week before. Against Cleveland, very rarely did the Steelers have Freiermuth get vertical with his routes, instead often hanging close to the line of scrimmage. 

This is Freiermuth’s only catch (and target) of the night, well into the second quarter. The play call and play design aren’t bad, but he slips before the ball arrives and his offensive linemen do a very poor job of getting hats on the Cleveland defenders. Sometimes things just don’t your way, but at least they finally tried getting Freiermuth involved. 

As you may recall, Kenny Pickett’s production between 10-20 yards downfield was a huge weakness during his rookie season. However, while finding positives about Pickett’s play isn’t easy to do right now, 208 of his passing yards have come in the 10-20-yards-downfield range. The only quarterbacks with more passing yards in that part of the field are C.J. Stroud and Brock Purdy. And that's with barely using Freiermuth. In fact, only 17 of Pickett's 76 pass attempts have been between the numbers.

It is time to get this guy more involved. Much more involved.