Coach Mike Tomlin is letting the NFL know what the Steelers‘ future plans are by appointing Arthur Smith as their new offensive coordinator.
Furthermore, the message is quite apparent. You had best be ready to halt the run if you play the Steelers.
Throughout his five years as an offensive play caller, Smith’s teams have demonstrated a willingness to run the ball effectively.
Only once, during his first season as head coach of the Falcons, who were 29th in rushing attempts in 2021, did his teams finish outside the top 10 in rushing attempts.
That seems like a good fit with the Steelers’ current setup.
“I believe that we have two excellent running backs in Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris,” stated Steelers president Art Rooney II earlier this week. “They, along with an improving offensive line, can be the foundation of success going forward.”
In terms of overall running yards, Smith’s teams have placed second once and third twice. In terms of running yards per game during the previous campaign, the Falcons were tenth in the NFL.
Maybe that’s a result of working for the head coaches he has endured.
And everyone should be familiar with those names, particularly Steelers supporters.
In 2007 and 2008, he worked as a defensive quality control coach for Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs before moving on to Jim Zorn.
With more over 1,200 running yards in 2007 and almost 1,500 yards in 2008, Clinton Portis led that Washington club.
Following that, Smith’s NFL career has a very Steelers flavor to it, having worked with former players Mike Vrabel and assistant coaches Mike Munchak, Ken Whisenhunt, and Mike Mularkey.
Smith was a member of the Tennessee Titans organization before to joining the team in 2011 as a defensive quality control coach under Munchak. In 2012, he switched to the offensive side of things, serving once more as a quality control coach. In 2013, he was promoted to assistant for offensive line and tight ends.
In 2013, Munchak was let go, and Whisenhunt took his position. Smith was retained by Whisenhunt as assistant tight ends coach, and Mularkey promoted him to tight ends coach upon Whisenhunt’s resignation in 2015.
After Mularkey left after the 2017 season, Smith kept that position, and Vrabel promoted him to offensive coordinator in 2019.
Smith replaced Matt LeFleur as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons after just two seasons as Vrabel’s offensive coordinator. After serving as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator for just one season, LeFleur was brought on board by the Packers as head coach.
Derrick Henry had his first 1,000-yard season in 2018 running for 1,059 yards under LeFleur’s tutelage. Under Smith’s guidance in 2019, Henry gained 1,540 yards through rushes. Then he has 2,027 running yards in 2020.
Under Smith, Tyler Allgier led the Falcons in rushing yards in 2022 with over 1,000, while in 2023 freshman Bijan Robinson led the team in total yards with over 1,400.
Running the ball isn’t the only thing, though. Smith uses a lot of play-action passing in his quarterback-friendly scheme.
Ryan Tannehill’s career was revived by Smith during his tenure with the Titans. In exchange for the Dolphins’ fourth and seventh round selections in 2019, Tennessee obtained Tannehill and a sixth-round pick from Miami. Though Marcus Mariota was supposed to be his backup, he outperformed him in Smith’s highly play-action-oriented schemes, and he ended up starting ten games, finishing 7-3, with 22 touchdown passes against just six interceptions. The Titans finished 11-5 in 2020 with quarterback Ryan Tannehill tossing 33 touchdown passes against only seven interceptions while Henry was running for 2,000 yards.
Play-action usage by the Steelers has long lagged behind the rest of the NFL, but when it has been used, quarterback Kenny Pickett has performed admirably. Play-action has allowed Pickett to complete 67.6 of his passes, as opposed to 61.6 when it hasn’t. Additionally, he has an 85.7 passer rating. His passer rating is 77.6 when play-action is not used.
In Smith’s two seasons as coordinator, the Titans finished 21st and 23rd in overall passing yards, but they also finished ninth in passing touchdowns. Also, they scored 10 or more points in each of the two seasons.
Their general productivity in the red zone was mostly to blame for it. In 2019 the Titans scored a touchdown 94.1 percent of the time when they were in a goal-to-go position. They reached 88 percent in 2020. In those two years, they were the NFL’s leaders. In goal-to-go scenarios from the previous season, the Steelers ranked 20th, scoring a touchdown 66.7 percent of the time.
The Titans, led by Smith, also had the best red zone offense in the NFL in 2019 and 2020, with touchdown percentages of 75.6 and 75.0 percent, respectively. Since the 2000 season, both of those percentages have been among the top 5 in the NFL.
Additionally, Smith’s offensive strategies differ significantly from those the Steelers have employed recently.
Using three wide receivers, one tight end, and one running back as their standard package, the Steelers have been among the league’s heaviest 11-person teams for the greater part of the last ten years. Performing 73.1 percent of their shots in that package in 2023 was part of that.
In 2023, Atlanta employed 11 players for only 15% of the time, the lowest percentage in the NFL.
The Falcons used 12 players—two wide receivers, one tight end, and two running backs—more than any other team. Usually, a fullback and a runner were used together. Atlanta topped the NFL in playing with 12 players on the field about 42% of the time.
Regarding the amount of time the Falcons used two- and three-tight end groupings, they were among the top 10 teams in the NFL.
