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Steelers Hiring Arthur Smith as new OC

steelhurt said:
Mixed feelings on this hire. I was expecting a wider search with interviews with Kubiak and Griese from the Niners staff who btw they could have interviewed regardless of the Niners being in the SB.
He’s never developed a young QB and one knock in Atlanta he didn’t utilize all his personnel.
Of course better than Canada but typical Tomlin hire, absolutely no threat and if he doesn’t work out, another scapegoat.
The good though he is very run heavy schemes so he fit right into the Steelers way of doing things.
Willing to certainly give him the benefit of the doubt and see what he can do here but it’s just a vanilla hire for me.
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Yes--he certainly seems to favor the tight ends in the passsing game for sure...His tight ends in Atlanta had over 170 targets and 6 touchdowns...
While their best receiver Drake London had 69 catches and 2 touchdowns.
To be fair... their wide receiver room was not a very deep one.
 
steel dino said:
Yes--he certainly seems to favor the tight ends in the passsing game for sure...His tight ends in Atlanta had over 170 targets and 6 touchdowns...
While their best receiver Drake London had 69 catches and 2 touchdowns.
To be fair... their wide receiver room was not a very deep one.
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They better get Muth locked up this off season.
 
diver said:
It does. What I can't quite figure out is why every team doesn't really try to dominate with the run. 17 games. Injuries pile up. Teams don't tackle as much in practice. November through January in colder climates. On a real cold day, some of these guys really don't want to tackle a guy like Najee Harris. IDK, but it seems to me to be the perfect atmosphere for a ground and pound attack.
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unless you are in Buffalo on a cold day lol
then everyone wants to and does tackle Najee
 
Smith is mostly a ground-and-pound guy similar really to Canaduh. Tomlin certainly didn't stick to what he said and go for a guy with the creativity and penchant for putting points on the board. This hire really does feel like it is more of the same. Have a good running game and really very little on the pass. All 4 teams in the championship games could move the ball down the field through the air, if needed. It is very difficult to come from behind when your O is based on the run. I hope this will work out. In 3 years, we will know.

P.S. They need to hire a passing game coordinator and a very good QB coach. The work with KP and possibly Rudolph needs to start the second the CBA says it can start.
 
SteelerInLebanon said:
It also means he hopefully won’t have to be to succeed. That is the best way to handle a young QB. Take the pressure off him and put him in better positions to grow.
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It's a QB league, he's better than what we have, but just seems like a guy that's going to run alot of 2 TE's conservative Tomlin offense. Hopefully I'm wrong, beat writer from Atlanta just said Smith can not develop QB's.
 
Eh. Let's see what he can do. Let's see what Tomlin will let him do.

Give him a primantis sammich and welcome him.
 
On one hand he has to be an upgrade?
On the other hand he hasn't exactly showcased the Falcons draft picks in the most positive light. Pitts BUST, London Disappointment, Robinson, all the hype, HUGE
disappointment.
I think Tomlin found the only other guy who would give a far inferior RB (Algier) as many rushes as Bijan Robinson.
Couldn't find a more comparable RB situation to Najee and Warren.
 
diver said:
It does. What I can't quite figure out is why every team doesn't really try to dominate with the run. 17 games. Injuries pile up. Teams don't tackle as much in practice. November through January in colder climates. On a real cold day, some of these guys really don't want to tackle a guy like Najee Harris. IDK, but it seems to me to be the perfect atmosphere for a ground and pound attack.
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That's the part the Steelers did do well in the running game this year,but it's still not elite. If they keep to what they started, then they'll be drafting another guy or 2 in the early rounds for the OL.

I'd kill for a badass C.


Anyhow, I'm with you. Ground&pound. It will make the quarterbacks job so much easier.

Hopefully the new OC will bring play action back to this team.
 
Steelr4evr said:
That's the part the Steelers did do well in the running game this year,but it's still not elite. If they keep to what they started, then they'll be drafting another guy or 2 in the early rounds for the OL.

I'd kill for a badass C.


Anyhow, I'm with you. Ground&pound. It will make the quarterbacks job so much easier.

Hopefully the new OC will bring play action back to this team.
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The Falcons ran play-action on 43 percent of their passing plays in 2022 and that percentage was probably the same in 2023. By running play-action so much, they rely on their strong running game and create open and free passing lanes for the offense to create big plays. In 2022, the Falcons ran the ball or ran play action 71 percent of the time. For any team, that's a really large number, but that's what the Falcons offense essentially is.

Love it!!
 
I know the Atlanta tenure as HC sticks out. What also sticks out to me is what he accomplished in TN when he was the OC only for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. The Titans run game was top five in yards, TDs and yards per rushing attempt in both of the seasons Smith was their OC. The passing game was top 10 in TDs and YPA. The offense as a whole was top 10 in scoring.
The Steelers haven't touched those type of numbers since Prime Ben. So, I'll give him a chance and see what he accomplishes.

As far as developing a QB, who did the guy have that he could develope? His first year there, his QBs were the ghost of Matt Ryan, AJ McCarron and Felipe Franks. In 2022, his QBs were Marcus Mariotta and Desmond Ridder. 2023 QBs were Tyler Heineke, Ridder and Logan Woodside. The Falcons seriously ****** him with their QB rooms in the three years he was there.
 
Not my favorite hire. Wish we got someone more innovative and new. munchak coming back would be huge though. The line had a terrible scheme and communication.
 
TDX27 said:
Smith is mostly a ground-and-pound guy similar really to Canaduh. Tomlin certainly didn't stick to what he said and go for a guy with the creativity and penchant for putting points on the board. This hire really does feel like it is more of the same. Have a good running game and really very little on the pass. All 4 teams in the championship games could move the ball down the field through the air, if needed. It is very difficult to come from behind when your O is based on the run. I hope this will work out. In 3 years, we will know.

P.S. They need to hire a passing game coordinator and a very good QB coach. The work with KP and possibly Rudolph needs to start the second the CBA says it can start.
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I never thought of Canada as a ground and pound guy. Too many jet sweeps.
 
SteelerSask2 said:
Better bring in passing game coordinator
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Yes, exactly. Arthur Smith as we all know is known for his run heavy offense so you’re correct, we need a passing coordinator/QB Coach that can work with Kenny.
Also, a bonus would be Munch coming aboard.
If these two things occur I’m going to feel a whole lot better about this hire.
 
Coryea said:
It's a QB league, he's better than what we have, but just seems like a guy that's going to run alot of 2 TE's conservative Tomlin offense. Hopefully I'm wrong, beat writer from Atlanta just said Smith can not develop QB's.
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Atlanta beat writers may just be salty as well. Lebeau looked like dogshit in Cincinnati as HC but we all know how he was as a DC. What he did with Tannehill in 2020 gives me hope. I am ok with conservative offense if it is efficient and puts enough points on the board. Scoring was down this year and a good conservative offense can win. Good being the key word.
 
Fiji Mariner said:
unless you are in Buffalo on a cold day lol
then everyone wants to and does tackle Najee
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Yeah...but they were down 21-0 before I had my first beer down. He only had 12 carries. I'm not trying to justify what the Steelers do. I like the idea of what they might do in theory, so I kind of like the hire because I'd like to see a hard nose run game and dedication to it. But we'll see.
 
Drink IRON City said:
If that is the case, I thought I heard that Munchack would be interested in returning, but only if Smith was hired.



Salute the nation
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PLEASE!
PRETTY PLEASE!
I don't ask for much.
Come back, Munch!
 
I was hoping the Steelers were going to cast a wider net and try to find the next great OC, but that wasn't the case. Smith is a solid hire for what this team wants to be.

Khan and Weidl had a clear vision last season for the offense. They signed maybe the best guard in free agency, added an elite tackle prospect, and accumulated depth on the offensive line. On top of that, they drafted Darnell Washington as a sixth lineman. The team was built for a power running game. While good on paper, our head coach and offensive coordinator didn't understand that early on and didn't try to set the tone during the offseason. A big surprise, I know.

The results speak for themselves in Atlanta...they weren't good. However, we have to acknowledge that some coaches can't handle the head coaching and play calling duties at the same time. This may have been the case for Smith because the production in Tennessee was very good. The fact he was a former head coach does bring some legitimacy to the coaching staff and a bit more authority, IMO. He's proven to be good enough at his job to earn a head coaching job even though he got fired from the job.

I like that he has a background with the offensive line. If you're a run game expert and your team wants to run the ball, you need this from your coordinator. I saw the play action numbers as well. This is a big plus for Pickett. If I recall, hasn't Pickett performed better while working under center and off the play action? I at least know people were calling for for portions of the season, yet we continued to run him out of the shotgun. That should be a positive change moving forward.

What will make me like this hire even more? Basically a rebuilt offensive coaching staff.
-Hire a new OL coach. Meyer has put together solid performances for half a year, disasters for the other half. We can't have Jekyll and Hyde offensive lines. There really was no in between. Constant communication issues, missed assignments, general confusion and we even saw that from Seumalo, our best lineman last season.
-Hire a new QB coach and assistant QB coach. I'm hiring a young coach as the QB coach. I want the next OC in waiting on staff, but also a young, innovative coach. I would be very tempted to hire Mark Whipple as assistant QB coach, aka, Kenny's personal QB coach. Whipple isn't afraid to give tough love.
-Hire a passing game coordinator. Here is where we expand the coaching staff. Add another offensive consultant to the staff. Get some fresh ideas.
-Hire a new WR coach. DJ and Pickens have too much talent to be lazy on the field. Get a coach in there who can get the most out of these two.
-Sign a new RT. I don't think we need to go young across the board. Find a mid-tier RT in free agency. Get a good road grader for the right side.
-Draft a center high. It's Jackson Powers-Johnson or Zach Frazier for me.
-Sign a legit No. 3 receiver. We all hoped Robinson had some gas left in the tank but he looked toast.
 
Something that bothers me that the Steelers only interviewed three candidates when they said they were going to cast a wide net in their search.
I know Zac Robinson turned them down and didn’t even bother with an interview and instead signed with the Falcons.
I have to wonder if guys like Klint Kubiak and Brian Greise just weren’t interested in coming here, otherwise why would you not at least talk to them.
Both coaches interviewed with the Saints last week.
Idk something seems not right here. I wouldn’t call this casting a wide net with Jerrod Johnson who never called a play in the NFL or Thomas Brown with very little experience calling plays.
Only Zac Robinson had real experience and of course Arthur Smith.
 
xjx said:
Eh. Let's see what he can do. Let's see what Tomlin will let him do.

Give him a primantis sammich and welcome him.
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THIS!!!!!!!!
 
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