The Steelers have their man.
In Arthur Smith, the Steelers have hired an offensive play caller who has shown an ability to run a unit that, above everything else, scores points.
In his two seasons as offensive coordinator of the Titans in 2019 and 2020, Tennessee averaged 25.1 and 30.7 points per game.
The Steelers in their history have never had a team average 30 points per game. The team record is 27.3 points per game set in 2014.
They averaged 26.0 points per game in 2020, but have seen that steadily decline in the three seasons since, averaging 20.1 points per game in 2021, 18.1 in 2022 and 17.9 points per game in the recently-completed 2023 season.
And yet some people are panning head coach Mike Tomlin's hiring of Smith because he isn't considered a "passing game guru."
There seem to be a lot of people who think that playing football in the NFL is now all about throwing the ball.
But the reality is that the most successful teams in the league are the ones that run the ball well.
Don't think that's the case? Take a look at the teams that made the recently completed conference championship games.
Baltimore led the NFL in rushing in 2023, while San Francisco was third and Detroit fifth. Kansas City, which averaged 104.9 rushing yards per game, was the only one of the four conference championship teams that ranked outside the top 5. But the Chiefs upped their rushing output to 127.3 yards rushing per game in the postseason, moving to more three-tight end sets.
Running the ball is still extremely relevant in today's NFL – especially when you have a team built to run the football as the Steelers are.
"Any offense I've been a part of, it's going to be a physical brand," Smith told Missi Matthews of Steelers.com. "You want to win the line of scrimmage, but it's also about playing to strengths, obviously, trying to create explosives."
How important is that?
Smith's Titans met the Ravens in the 2019 playoffs and whipped Baltimore, 28-12, rushing for 217 yards.
In 2020, they beat the Ravens in Baltimore, 30-24, rolling up 423 total yards, including 173 on the ground.
In 2022, his undermanned Falcons rushed for 202 yards in a 23-20 win over the Browns.
Now, there are some losses to AFC North opponents sprinkled in there in Smith's time as a coordinator and head coach, as well, but they were more defensive letdowns than anything else.
And finding ways to beat the other teams in the AFC North is critical.
As we just saw in the playoffs, the Chiefs defeated the Ravens in the playoffs by playing keep-away from them by running 73 offensive plays compared to 58 for Baltimore.
A power running game works in today's NFL because of the players coming into the league from the college ranks, where spread offenses are so prevalent. Take a look at the most recent drafts for proof of what's happening.
To combat the spread offenses, college teams have gotten smaller -- and faster. Getting smaller and faster helps them in coverage, but it doesn't easily combat power running games.
At 240 pounds, Najee Harris is a power back. Heck, in today's NFL, Jaylen Warren, at 5-foot-8 and 215 pounds, is considered a bigger back.
"I really feel good about having a kind of a two-headed monster at running back, two different styles of running back, both very capable," team president Art Rooney II said last week. "Really, I think the right offensive line can provide a real foundation for success going forward."
Along with the right offensive coordinator. And Smith's mentality meshes well with that.
• What do Mike Munchak, Ken Whisenhunt and Mike Mularkey all have in common?
First, they're all among the most beloved Steelers assistant coaches in the past two decades.
But they also all were head coaches who saw something in Smith and continued to elevate him throughout his career with the Tennessee Titans.
That should say a little something about their feelings regarding Smith and his ability.
For those who feel a coach who was fired from a head coaching job is somehow damaged goods, if the Steelers had subscribed to that theory in the past, Dick LeBeau would never have been a member of their coaching staff. Same goes for Munchak. Or Todd Haley. Or Brian Flores.
Those guys all were fired head coaches who had success as Steelers assistant coaches.
Fact of the matter is, guys don't get hired as head coaches because NFL teams don't think they do a good job. In fact, they get a chance to be a head coach because they've done a good job as an assistant coach.
Giving Smith an opportunity to do something at which he's got a proven track record of success isn't a bad idea.
• Smith will obviously be coaching with a different team in 2024 than the one he was just with. But he's been a play caller for five consecutive seasons.
That's something of a rarity in today's NFL.
Thirty-one of the league's 32 teams have offensive coordinators in place, with Mike Macdonald in Seattle still on the lookout.
Last season, 16 of the team's 32 teams hired new offensive coordinators. When the smoke clears from this season, there will be 15 new play callers on the offensive side of the ball.
Of the 31 play callers in place, only nine were on their job prior to the start of the 2022 season. Of those, six are actually head coaches who call their own plays, including both coaches whose teams are in this weekend's Super Bowl.
Of the offensive coordinators who also call plays, none were in place before the 2022 season.
Interestingly, Smith's hiring along with that of Kliff Kingsbury in Washington pushes the number of current offensive coordinators who used to be head coaches to four.
On the defensive side of things, six of the league's current coordinators are former head coaches.
• Watching Tomlin on the field at the Senior Bowl as he was last week is always entertaining.
Most NFL coaches don't even go down on the field, if they show up in Mobile, Ala., at all.
Tomlin, on the other hand, is right up close and personal with the ongoing drills.
It's really no different than how he coaches his own team. He is rarely hands off when it comes to coaching.
He's seemingly capable of giving coaching points about every position on the field.
It's a rare talent.
It's also why the suggestions that Tomlin would step away after the 2023 season were ridiculous. Tomlin's a football coach. It's what he does. It's in his DNA.
"I think the players still respond to Mike," Rooney II said. "That's No. 1. He still has the key characteristics that we saw when we hired him. He can keep the attention of a group of 20-year-olds for a whole season, keep them in the fight the whole way. Still feel good about Mike. Obviously if I didn't, we'd make a change. I think if Mike wasn't able to lead us to a championship, he wouldn't be here. That's why he's here."
• Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here: Apple Podcast | iHeart Podcast
One of the big reasons Tomlin is still able to command that respect is because he's so engaged. And it's real. He doesn't have to fake his passion for the game.
• The strength of this year's draft appears to be the offensive linemen available. That's something of a rarity for recent years.
And it will be welcome by NFL teams.
This year's All-Pro team included four players on the wrong side of 30 on the first team – San Francisco offensive tackle Trent Williams, Philadelphia center Jason Kelce and Dallas guard Zack Martin and Kansas City guard Joe Thuney.
The second-team All-Pro line had Tyron Smith and Lane Johnson at tackle, another pair of players on the wrong side of 30.
Now, certainly, there is some name recognition there when it comes to offensive linemen. And that helps players continue to be named All-Pro late into their careers as offensive linemen.
But the league definitely needs an infusion of young, talented offensive linemen in a very bad way.
