• I think I can translate what Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith was saying about his unit’s progress Tuesday in Pittsburgh. Here’s the full quote—on how the offense has looked thus far—with some glaring miscues materializing on the field.
“You know that’s not [the players’] standard; that’s not acceptable,” Smith told reporters. “But at the same time, you’d rather go through that now than have that happen Week 1. There’s a lot going on there. We’ve had a really good camp, but the reality is when we’ve got in there under the lights … and this is taking nothing away from the other defenses, but we got to get out of our own way. Those are the things we have to clean up.”
In other words, the Steelers’ offensive starters extended playing time in preseason reflect failure, and the need to get things right.
The team has spent a lot—in cash and draft capital—to get the offensive line right, and there’s a really good chance two rookies, Troy Fautanu and Zach Frazier, are among the team’s five starters on opening day. The receiver position still has a lot of moving parts, and of course, there’s the quarterback situation.
This sets up as a massive week for Russell Wilson, who is set to practice without restriction for the first time since injuring his calf at the start of the summer. Wilson’s battled inconsistency since starting to work his way back, and with the injury healing, he’ll need to fix that. Justin Fields has impressed in practice, and shown his ability to extend plays, create a really cool element in the quarterback run game, but questions remain about how he processes information in the passing game.
The good news is Smith has been a master over the years at fitting his system to his quarterback.
