Despite the 15.5 points per game the Steelers are averaging on offense through the first two weeks of the season, Arthur Smith is encouraged by what his offense is doing. Part of it is because the team is 2-0 after starting the season with two road games. But, he's also encouraged because he's been in a similar situation before.
"You're constantly looking at what you're doing, how defenses are attacking you, how are they playing you," Smith said during his meeting with the media Thursday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. "And there's been some impressive stuff by the line, especially in the run game, with our intent. Wearing people down, and it hadn't been perfect by any means, don't get me wrong, but I've just been through this enough, similar to going back to Tennessee, where you felt like you're getting close."
Smith is referring to his stint as offensive coordinator of the Titans in 2019-20, which was a very successful two-year run. The Titans went through their own stretch of mediocrity (and some down right horrific seasons), but broke through the year Smith took over the Tennessee offense, resulting in a trip to the AFC Championship game, in which the Titans lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion Chiefs.
In Smith's first year, the Titans wound up the 10th-ranked offense in points and ranked 12th in total yards. In 2020, they followed that up with the best season the franchise had seen since 1993 when they were the Houston Oilers, ranking fourth in points and second in total yards. The Titans went 11-5 that year and won the AFC South.
However, Smith's stint as offensive coordinator didn't start off all that well. To be fair, they did get off to a better start than this year's Steelers, putting up 34 of the team's 43 points in a Week 1 trouncing of the Browns. That's more than the Steelers have put up in the first two weeks of the season.
But then the next five weeks went pretty terribly for Tennessee's offense. Over that time, the Titans' offense averaged 11 points per game, and were shut out in a Week 6 loss to the Broncos. Even the running game, which centered around Derrick Henry's breakout season, averaged just 102.8 yards per game over the first six games of the season, including the Week 1 win over the Browns. The Titans lost four of those five games, to which head coach Mike Vrabel benched quarterback Marcus Mariota in favor of former first-round pick Ryan Tannehill, a move that helped ignite a furious shift in production.
From Week 7 through the remainder of the season, the Titans' offense became one of the league's best. Over the last 10 games of the season, the offense averaged 30.4 points per game, never scoring any less than 20. And, their running game -- despite having a less mobile quarterback -- took off, averaging 160.6 yards per game. And, if you were to take out lackluster performances on the ground in Weeks 7 and 8, the Titans averaged an astounding 179.6 rushing yards per game.
This is when Henry became known as King Henry. He was a fine running back over his first three seasons, but Henry didn't become an All-Pro or Offensive Player of the Year until Smith took over as offensive coordinator. And, Henry hasn't been exactly the same since Smith left Tennessee. Henry's two seasons under Smith were the only two of his career in which he's averaged more than five yards per carry. The most he's averaged since Smith left was 4.4 in 2022.
That's a long trip down the rabbit hole, but it's well worth to look at the context in which Smith is speaking. He's been through this before. He's seen what an offense looks like when a breakthrough is bound to happen. And, he's seeing evidence that this Steelers offense could break through sooner rather than later. In fact, he said he had the same feeling he had in Tennessee when things were about to pop off just this past week.
"I actually felt in the first half," Smith said. "We got the (offensive pass interference). We had four drives there. We had the backed up situation, and we had that too many penalties, and one where we kind of flipped the field and we lost, I think, 61 yards off the play extension with the hold, including the penalty. And that was a play we made. It wasn't a hypothetical, 'Oh, we almost.' We've got to clean that up, and we've got a chance to really come out in the second half and put a team away, or get a lead. We didn't do that, but the first half, we were getting closer, so you see the progress."
Smith has told his players he believes the dam is about to break, which is something every single player has echoed this week, typically in their own vernacular. Justin Fields put it more succinctly, saying that all that's standing in their way is themselves:
"That just continues to go back to the point of we're shooting ourselves in the foot at the end of the day," Fields said. "Drives are not stopping because the defense is stopping us. It's stopping because we're stopping ourselves. If we clean up everything, we'll be fine."
There's no denying that penalties this past week cost the Steelers at least one touchdown and, without assuming anything else, the ball on the Denver 6-yard line instead of having to punt. But, they still haven't been world beaters. They need to be more efficient running the football. They've averaged 139 rushing yards over the first two games, which ranks a respectable 12th in the league. But, they're averaging only 3.6 yards per carry, the fifth-worst mark in the league. And, whether it's from taking deep shots down the field or scheming up yards after the catch, the Steelers have to improve on an average of 121.5 passing yards per game, which ranks 30th in the NFL.
Smith knows and understands that.
"You're not sitting there blowing smoke, trying to pump their tires," Smith said. "We need more points clearly. We'll get there."
But, Smith's offense so far has Fields completing 69.8% of his passes, a huge jump from the 60.3% he averaged during his three seasons with the Bears. Fields also isn't turning the ball over, after he had done so 41 times in his three seasons with the Bears. Najee Harris is now averaging 4.95 yards per carry between the tackles, according to Pro Football Focus, a marked increase from the 4.24 yards per carry he averaged between the tackles a season ago. And, despite having several big catches negated by penalties, one way or another, George Pickens is putting up numbers that strongly suggest he's on the verge of a legitimate breakout into a bonafide star.
There are shreds of evidence that the offense should already have more production had they not shot themselves in the foot by penalties. Smith knows there's more work ahead if they are to have a similar breakthrough that the Titans did while he was their offensive coordinator. In the meantime, until they figure to get everything to click, this team still has a chance of winning thanks to a defense that's playing phenomenal football.
"I feel like we're like a startup on offense, a startup company, really," Smith said. "And, you know, we've got a great defense and good (special) teams. So those are things we've go to work with and we've got to keep working."
