Arthur Smith answers burning questions surrounding the Steelers offense

When it comes to NFL Preseason, you have to take it with a grain of salt. Both the successes and failures, all should be taken in context of the fact is is an exhibition. The teams are playing football, but it is a far cry from the games in the regular season when starters rarely leave the field, and game planning is at a premium.

You don’t get that in the preseason, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from different aspects of your team/players from the exhibition season. This week Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith met with media to discuss his thoughts on the preseason thus far, specific units, and even how some of his high profile players are producing.

As for preseason success, Smith knows heaping praise on a unit for one performance in a preseason game is not what you want to do as a coach.

“Over the years, you don’t overreact to the preseason, one way or the other, because we got plenty of things we got to work on.” Smith said. “Obviously, it was good to see some of the little things that have been points of emphasis. You know, operation, we were pretty clean. We did have a one false start, leaving early down in the red zone. I think overall, style of play, guys made plays, handled situations pretty well. We have a long way to go. Just the details of some of the stuff that showed up in the run game, could have, should have, would have, but it’s like everything you do, you’ve got to be in sync. So, there’s plenty of stuff we got to work on.”

Smith went on to answer several questions which have been buzzing around the Steelers fan base, one of the biggest questions fans have relates to the offensive line. How did the unit do vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1?

“Good job. I thought our conditioning was good. Those are two good players. I was glad that they played their guys, Hines Allen and Walker, they are pretty good edge guys. It’s good work for Troy and Broderick . I thought the pockets were pretty good. We did the one sack with a little miscue there underneath, and then another lesson learned, the clock goes off. That was a drive. We took the negative play. It’s hard to overcome that.

“That’s an old Tom Moore quote, and we’ll see Tom on Thursday, looking young as ever, and it’s true. The clock goes off and play whatever second and ten, you take those negative plays and what they do to drives. Plenty of stuff to learn from. I thought both quarterbacks overall played really well.”

The offensive line provided the time for quarterbacks to deliver the ball down the field, and it was where they targeted wide receivers which felt like a breath of fresh air for the fan base. Where were the passes going? Try the middle of the field. Was this by design? Smith acknowledges it’s a part of the process.

“Go with the strengths of your team.” Smith said. “I mean, it’s plenty of times last year when you tried to do that in different areas and it’s not one person’s fault. Certainly, when you become too one dimensional, whatever you’re doing, the defense as you say, we don’t have counter punches, and you got to make them defend the entire field. That opens up a lot of other things.”

The Steelers offense moved the ball well throughout the four quarters of play, and scored four touchdowns, all through the air. It has many wondering if the Steelers ground game might be lacking and getting off to a slow start. Smith dove into why the running game might not have been up to the standard the team wants to have in 2025.

“A lot of things. Not just in the running game, even though the passing numbers were good, there’s some of our details as guys get tired, and those are the lessons you learned in the preseason. Too many people, they look for relief in this business, with the end results sometimes. Okay, whatever you score 31 points, you can overreact one way or another. Especially as things don’t go well, people try to overreact, try to blame others and other people.

“We’re never looking for relief. We’re just looking for progress to improve. That’s always been my mindset in a lot of areas. So, to go back to the run game, the same thing, you know, at times late in the game, I thought we had some decent runs, but early on, it’s small things. It takes all 11 whether it’s the tracks, set of combinations, some of the ball handlings. The little minutia that may sound boring, but those are things going on while you practice. I thought at times, we’ve done pretty good here in practice, but it’s got to carry over the game. So that’s definitely something we got to work on.”

The natural follow-up was to talk about rookie 3rd Round pick Kaleb Johnson and his debut in the NFL this past Saturday night. Johnson didn’t show out the way many were hoping, but Smith isn’t concerned about the young running back.

“I talked to him in the game. Again, learning your players, everybody’s wired a little bit different, and some guys are too hard on themselves, and sometimes some guys are delusional and make excuses. Kaleb’s a great guy, and that’s why it’s important for those young guys to get out there. You don’t want that to be week one. I don’t care who you are, whether it’s nerves or excitement. It was a big week for him and for all those rookies. We’ll put them to work on Thursday with Tampa, and another preseason game on Saturday night.”

One thing the Steelers did well vs. Jacksonville was capitalize on situational football. Whether it as the 3rd and 4 conversion with Johnson at running back, the red-zone efficiency or orchestrating a successful two-minute drive at the end of the first half. But not all situational moments were won, like the 4th and 1 chance to start the 3rd quarter which resulted in a loss of yardage, and a turnover on downs.

Smith knows the importance of winning in those moments.

“A lot of times you get into the preseason, and you’re not trying to show everything, so you want to package things there, which is pretty standard NFL 101, most people package those short yardage plays. You see that all the time, when people get into a free play package right there, we had an adjustment, and it is what it is. It became a one-on-one thing, and we got a little pulled back, and the corner crack replaced and tackled us for a loss.

“They had a similar one I watched the other day. Somebody else ran one. So, try not to get too cute in the preseason, but we got to execute better, and that was the one situational thing that we didn’t handle well. Actually two, one when we were first and six on the six package play, got negative one followed by the false start, and it was the one driving the red zone where we stalled out. So those situations, the margins in the NFL are so small. Try to eliminate those negative plays, especially, you have the ability to get out of things, or maybe package things differently. I don’t want him to think that you’re blaming the player, blaming the quarterback, blame me. Ultimately, it’s all me and what you want to show, so those two situations things that we can improve on, for sure

Clearly, Smith and the Steelers aren’t showing everything they have, but most would assume it was a good step forward for the offense in preseason Week 1. The next question becomes will they be able to stack solid performances in Week 2 when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers comes to town?