Tom Arth is one of just two returning coaches from last year's Steelers staff. Much has changed, from the top down, including a play-calling head coach in Mike McCarthy whose offensive credentials are decades in the making.
Aaron Rodgers is back, though, for Arth in his third season as quarterbacks coach here. So are Mason Rudolph and Will Howard. That makes gameday feel much the same for Arth, even if his role is tweaked a bit with the new-look coaching structure on offense.
"It's pretty much the same," Arth said Friday. "But what I have to do a good job of is making sure that I'm communicating with Coach [McCarthy] the conversations we're having on the sideline, between Aaron, the other quarterbacks and me. Just making sure he's always up to date on everything we're talking about, how he's seeing the game, and vice versa."
McCarthy acknowledged earlier this season that he has to be anchored to the sideline given his responsibilities as the head coach, but there are always visuals to parse through after every possession. That's where offensive coordinator Brian Angelichio comes in, as well as Arth and the other offensive assistants.
Angelichio is gathering that intel to pass along to McCarthy. But Arth is on the bench scanning the tablet with Rodgers, Rudolph, Howard and Allar, discussing what's working and what isn't.
"It's been awesome. It's been really good," Arth said of the information flow. "Obviously, Coach is so dialed-in to the quarterback position and the quarterback play. Having [Angelichio] there to also communicate with us and just make sure we're seeing everything the same way, and we're on the same page when we go out there, it's been really good."
Indeed, everyone has a place in the offensive ecosystem for the 2026 Steelers. McCarthy has heaped praise on Arth, who had a brief stint with him as a quarterback in Green Bay in 2006, since he was hired.
Now that working relationship has four regular-season games from which to build on. Both McCarthy and Arth value their feedback from the top understudy to Rodgers, too, in Rudolph.
"That's one of the great things about Mason; he's awesome on the sideline," Arth said. "He's awesome all week — just a great person, and great in the quarterback meeting room. But on Sundays, he's a really big advocate for Aaron, and always making sure that he, along with me, is communicating with Coach and saying, 'Here's what Aaron likes here coming up on third down,' or, 'hey, what do you think about this shot play?' or whatever it is. Mason does a really nice job with that."
All of it contributes to a healthy offense and a winning plan. That's first and foremost once the ball is kicked off.
But the Steelers also have two young quarterbacks on their roster in Howard and Allar. And Arth is always trying to steal a moment or two here and there to prepare them for the future.
"Absolutely. I think that's one thing we try to be really conscious of for me, in my position," Arth said. "So much energy and attention for the majority of the day is going toward Aaron, and even to Mason as the No. 2, but Will, Drew and I, we try to get as much time as we can together. We walk through and talk through the scripts on our own before meetings start early in the morning, and get some time after practice and just take advantage of every opportunity we have.
"Because it's very important that they are developing through this season, that they're understanding the plan and digesting the plan and just approaching it as if they're the starter. We try to create that type of environment for them as best we can."
