The Pittsburgh Steelers flat out refuse to throw the ball over the middle of the field – and that’s not new. But it is new, however, for offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.
Smith has come under fire from
a lot of Steelers fans due to this big empty space in Mason Rudolph’s passing chart against the Chicago Bears, but also the lack of middle shots from Aaron Rodgers, as well.
Per SumerSports’ SumerBrain tool, the Steelers rank last in the NFL in completed passes of 10+ yards over the middle of the field (11.78 percent of completions) – but that’s never been Arthur Smith’s M.O.
Remember what question was being asked after the Steelers acquired both Russell Wilson and Justin Fields in March of 2024? “How will the offense work with quarterbacks that don’t like throwing over the middle of the field?” Smith has always been known to use the middle of the field. He didn’t just wake up one morning and decide the middle of the field was this scary place that people tell ghost stories about around a campfire; he’s almost certainly being told not to draw up anything that involves deep middle shots.
Take this array of charts spanning from 2019-23 as examples of Smith using the middle of the field as examples of Smith actively calling plays in a way he didn’t before.
Now compare that with some of the passing charts we’ve seen over the last two seasons.
It’s not a coincidence that this has been a trend that long preceded Smith. At the end of Randy Fichtner’s stint as offensive coordinator, Pittsburgh didn’t utilize the intermediate-deep middle. The same can be said for Matt Canada. It doesn’t matter who the OC is, nor has it mattered if it is end-of-career Ben Roethlisberger, Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky, Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, Aaron Rodgers, or Mason Rudolph. This is a Mike Tomlin issue that has spanned three OCs and seven quarterbacks. When that’s the case, it’s pretty obvious the head coach is making it known he doesn’t want to throw over the middle because he thinks it leads to turnovers, which Tomlin is horrified of.
The Steelers’ offense has been one of the league’s most conservative for half a decade, and that’s by design. The way Tomlin wants to win is by limiting mistakes and grinding out 16-13 wins. Which, as we’ve discussed plenty of times over the last several years, just isn’t sustainable in this day and age.
For any qualms that you may have with Arthur Smith, he is far from the Steelers’ biggest issue, and he’s been a net positive for the offense. Entering Week 13, the Steelers rank 15th in EPA per play, 15th in success rate, and seventh in rush success rate while averaging the 11th-most points per game in the league. Additionally, he’s got them there with no real threat at wide receiver outside of DK Metcalf, which meant having to find other ways to be successful i.e., the jumbo package that Pittsburgh has utilized.
No, the Steelers aren’t on the level of the Los Angeles Rams or Detroit Lions when it comes to offensive explosiveness and efficiency, but Smith has done a great job in taking the Steelers’ offense from one of the worst in the NFL and making it better than league average – something we were all begging for.
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