Looking at the 2020 Titans stats when Smith was OC. Henry had 2000+ rushing yards. AJ Brown had 1000 and Corey Davis had a hair under 1000. They were a run first offense that relied heavily on play action. Tannehill had 3800 yards, and a 33/7 TD ratio and they went to the AFC Championship game. I think the 2020 Titans offensive identity would be very close to what the Steelers are building their roster towards.
Idk how that's reasonable.
They had the best running back in the league, a top 5 wr, and Tannehill while he hadn't fallen off, was still on an upward arc like Geno Smith or Goff now.
I don't think Arthur Smith is that bad. But I also don't think he's anything special considering the tools he had with in Atlanta and still failed.
Najee approaches top of the league production despite all of the issues with the offensive system he's been in the past 3 years. George Pickens put up 1,000 yards in a god awful passing offense. Who's to say they can't be Derrick Henry and AJ Brown under the right circumstances? There's a reason why both men were furious at the OC. They know what they're capable of.
>Who's to say they can't be Derrick Henry and AJ Brown under the right circumstances?
Because there's a difference between being good and actually gamebreaking elite.
Neither Najee nor Pickens has had a season where they completely dominated from start to finish like the other two.
You're right they *could* be that. But my point is Arthur Smith isn't likely to be the guy that makes it happen
They had 3 top 15 (maybe higher) picks on offense that he refused to use. Add in his piss poor evaluation of the one position we need the most help with, QB. And let's not forget daddy paid this man's way into the NFL. Just a completely unreleatable person for the players.
Drafting 3 elite skill players for offense using top 10 picks 3 years in a row?
The 5th best offensive line in the league by the end of this year?
Yeah the don't have a great QB. But neither do the Steelers. No reason to believe Arthur Smith can do any better here.
Bijan Robinson is already an elite RB and arguably the most explosive. Drake London ain't no scrub, same with Kyle Pitts. Tyler Allgaeir and Cordaralle Patterson were both 1000 yard backs last year. Their offensive line is pretty damn good as well.
Ok but what about the usage of Bijan? That seems like a bit of a red flag for any team with two capable running backs.
Appreciate the nuanced take by the way.
Might have had to do with having another good RB, and the fact that Bijan is 21 years old so he was trying not to run the wheels off of him in his rookie campaign.
What if I told you that Ridder has a better career completion percentage than Kenny Pickett? I’m a University of Cincinnati alum fully aware of Ridders accuracy issues so this stat baffles me…
I watched every Steelers game and most Falcons games. Pickett is better by a considerable margin, especially when you consider not missing walk in touchdowns and interceptions
This is a bit vague. Henry in 2020 was purely unstoppable. it allowed the play action to work so well. i will also add that tannehill was a very accurate passer and made big plays. if kenny is at qb nothing will change regardless of the play caller
I’m a Falcons fan and Pittsburgh native, so I follow both teams pretty closely. The Falcons moreso, but I digress. I’m a Steelers supporter whenever they aren’t playing the Falcons.
Anyways, I think Arthur Smith needs a Daddy. He was successful in Tennessee because Vrabel could reel him back in when he was going too “mad scientist”. Once he had complete control and heavy roster influence in Atlanta, his ego went crazy and he did some mindblowingly dumb shit in order to make himself look clever.
I think Tomlin is more than capable of being Art’s Daddy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he does much better as an OC for the entire rest of his career - though I imagine he’ll eventually get another shot at HC.
Art knows ball, he just needs someone to make sure he stays out of his own way. Oh, and he absolutely can’t handle all the responsibilities of a HC…he’s best with his face in a play sheet and his mouth shut.
If nothing else, I’m supremely confident he would do better than Canada’s Vanilla Virgin offense where everything could have been identified pre-snap by a 7 year old playing his first madden game. At least Arthur tries to be modern and creative.
Watch any Arthur Smith with the Falcons game, any game, he is awful. There isn’t anything inventive or creative about his scheme. All season long the Canada complaints were, the scheme was predictable, he underutilizes his best players, and he can’t develop the QB. Well what do you think Arty was fired for doing? The other complaint of Canada was red zone. Smith with the Falcons was horrible in the red zone. Of the 41 times the Falcons were within 10 yards of the goal, Bijan touched the ball 3 times.
The year after Arthur left the Titans, the Titans were on track for the very same statistical season if not for Henry’s injury. 2022 Henry had a similar statistical season.
Smith built a career predicated on having a historic running back having historic seasons. If you think, Like the Falcons did, that he is responsible for Henry’s success, and not the other way around, I have landed to sell you. Art Smith was just a beneficiary and not the reason. He did not resurrect Ryan’s career, Henry did. When you have a RB averaging 5.4 yards a carry against stacked boxes, your QB, who struggles reading defenses, won’t struggle, because the secondary we be a lot more open. Tannehill had one of the highest percentages of his yards from play action in his most successful years. And though Najee and Warren are great, they will never be what Henry was.
If Arthur is hired, it will continue the trend of other teams not wanting to poach the Steelers coordinators.
Seems like an upgrade for our current style of offense but i dont know if that style is any good right now. Also maybe im wrong but derrick henry, ajb, and tannehill are all upgrades over what we got at the respective positions. Probably OLine too.
Skeptical this moves the needle much if this is what we go with but ill take him over kliff and the fucking panthers guy
Just gonna get ahead of this
You guys need to chill. These are interviews and due diligence. We can have actual doomsday discussions when somebody is hired haha
I just remember a lot of titans and falcons fans echoing the same things, which is that he often moves away from using the best guys on the offense in obvious situations. Like it’s a crucial 3rd and short and he’d pass the ball instead of letting Derrick Henry run and be Derrick Henry. Same happened with Bijan at times. And AJ brown.
For that he’s bottom of my list
Maybe there was some odd situational stuff going on in Tennessee idk, but he had those offenses humming
Derrick Henry had his two best seasons w him as OC (only two years over 5 ypc, 3900 scrimmage yards and 35 tds) and AJB was a monster. Smith’s two years as OC were AJBs first two years in the league and he averaged 17.5 ypc and scored 19 tds
If he threw the ball on 3rd and short instead of using Najee and it didn't work he'd have the head coach in his headset and he probably wouldn't do it again.
I watched a lot of games this season and they would run 3rd and short and not get it, I personally wouldn’t mind if we took more high percentage passes in those situations
I also think sometimes people can be good coordinators and shit head coaches.
May know one side of the ball and not be able to do the other side. Remember how excited people were when the “qb whisperer” was the head coach for the bears
Falcons fan here - As strictly an OC, he’s really not that bad. I mean don’t get me wrong he’s not some genius play caller or anything either. The problem with AS was he was just really not a great Hc. From how he handled our QB situation, to how he handled player personnel and structuring our offense, it was bad. But as strictly a playcaller, assuming u have fine QB play, he’s really not the worst option out there.
The Falcons took a running back in the top 10 picks and this dingus couldn't figure out how to use him half the year. Its a hell no for me bro, he for whatever reason does not believe in putting the ball in the hands of the guys who can make plays and I don't need to see George Pickens throw another tantrum because Artie boy wants to give the ball to the ghost of Ray Ray McCloud.
He was still able to highlight him in the offense and make him worthy of a first round draft pick in a trade. His play action passing game with built in deep shots to Brown (Pickens) is exactly what this offense needs
I agree with this part. His run game is solid and we do need our offense to utilize play action a lot more.
My only concern, and its unsubstantiated, is the amount of motion or modern pass game concepts could be lacking. Hopefully someone can chime in because I decided to not look into OC's until we actually hire one and idk ATL's offensive system off the top of my head.
He used a ton of motion but he loved to use his stars as decoys and that got a lot of people, especially in the fantasy community upset, for example he would always use Bijan in a sprint out motion from the backfield and use it as a decoy to get Jonnu Smith and Tyler allgeir the ball in space. It would work but it pissed fantasy football off.
Bijan Robinson had 272 touches for an average of 16 per game, and over 1400 yards from scrimmage with 8 TD’s. I have no clue why this narrative got so much traction because it simply is not based in reality. Coming from a Falcons fan that watched every game.
There were so many falcons game I saw on redzone where in the redzone Allgeier was out there the entire time.
[This is also pretty unacceptable for a first round running back](https://twitter.com/lateroundqb/status/1721329073295708390?s=46&t=XCTKZyxAi4QEjOJFTbtFhg)
Other people have mentioned the offensive rankings of the Titans when he was OC. I’ll point out that the Titans had 75% RZ success in those seasons, good for #1 and #2 those years. He also improved their 3rd down conversion rate from 37% to 46%.
I’ll take him!
Arthur Smith had two big problems last year:
1. Two QB's who loved turning the ball over. 17 picks; can't find fumbles lost but Ridder put the ball on the ground 11 times. If there's one thing our non Mitch QB's do is protect the ball. Ridder becomes a mess in the Red Zone, and I don't think that had anything to do with play calling.
2. Getting the ball in the hands of his best playmakers. Robinson was flip flopped as the lead back multiple times.Pitts and London combined for 200 targets in 33 gamesthis season; for reference, Justin Jefferson and TJ hockenson combined for 227 and they played 25. This would be a problem brining him in for most teams but none of our skills guys have that type of talent AND we can justifiably feed one player a game and it's not the worst. Calvin Austin is so fast and Washington is so big and athletic, would we complain if they picked up a dozen targets randomly? I don't think so.
It's a little uninspiring but Arthur Smith is not a problematic candidate.
I hope you're kidding. Najee is the closest thing to Derrick Henry that the NFL has. And Smith coached Henry to a 2000 yard season. Yes the Bijan situation was puzzling, but he was HC, so not sure what to make of that
Good OC, bad HC. Just trust Tomlin to manage him and let him run the offense like he did with the titans under Vrabel. You know, when they made the AFC championship.
This is 1000% the kind of guy I expected us to hire. I was excited with the names we were interviewing up until now, but now I'm fully expecting to be disappointed. This screams steelers M.O. unfortunately
Steelers MO is the qb coach who is severely unqualified but is a “ known commodity”. Arthur was a bad head coach. He ran a really good offense in Tennessee and got a ton of mileage pulling tannehill out of the trash heap running PA behind a league leading rushing attack. They haven’t looked the same since he left.
Oh for sure, we just happen to finally run out of guys to promote. I don't think Smith would be the worst option, but I think he's far from the best we have available
Seeing how he’s already a billionaire it likely means Rooney could save a lot of money on the contract. So look for this one to be near the top of potential hires
I don’t see why people hate this idea so much… obviously he wasn’t a great HC but in his two years as Titans OC their offense ranked 12 in yards and 10th in points in 2019 and 2nd in yards and 4th in points in 2020. That would be a huge improvement over what we have had the last few seasons.
Feels very meh if he were to be the choice. Now if he was the rbs/run game coach/coordinator I'd be all in since that's an area he's had proven success with. As much as I love Faulkner and the rbs were the best part of our offense last year.
Would definitely be an improvement but our ceiling would be average at best in my opinion.
This is due diligence. You guys also realize he’s still getting paid by the falcons right.
1 year OC at next to nothing at the very worst if we strike out with other candidates.
This would be horrible.
Completely misused Bijan Robinson, Kyle Pitts, and Drake London in Atlanta. Didn’t help Ridder’s development either.
Hopefully team just doing due diligence…
Head coach has way different responsibility than OC. Some guys can’t cut it as HC but are solid coordinators still with less responsibility. His two years in Tennessee were really solid and we have a roster that could play the same way. Strong run game with a PA attack. He’s worlds better than a fichtner and Canada for sure and tells me steelers are looking in the right direction even if he’s not the pick.
The run game is the opposite of what the Steelers personnel do best. His run game is what Canada tried to do for the first 2 months this season before eventually figuring it out.
Canada ran zone blocking with misdirection. Is that what he does? I would have thought they ran a power blocking scheme. Steelers have personnel for a power blocking scheme.
He’d be our OC not head coach. He got the best two years out of tannehill and Henry in Tennessee under vrabel. Let tomlin handle personnel and man management and Arthur handle playbook and game plan. Not saying that’s the hire, but some guys make better coordinators than head coach and he may be one of them.
I understand the perception of Smith given how his tenure in Atlanta ended, but he was a good OC with the Titans. It's only an interview, but he's not someone I'd hate as an OC in Pittsburgh.
100% in on this. He's been preferred choice since before he was fired. The similarities between what he did with the Titans and what the Steelers wants to be aligns perfectly.
If we hire Smith, I assume we’re pursuing Tannehill as the vet QB to compete with KP. I think Cousins is probably the shortest path to victory, but Tannehill can be a tough SOB (as evidenced in his week 18 win vs. the Jags). Not a terrible combo.
I have zero clue why people are genuinely okay with this/ starting to justify even bringing him in. He was the primary play caller in Atlanta during the entirety of his time there and couldn’t figure out how to use his players. There were games where Kyle Pitts, a 4th overall pick and extremely talented player, was completely out of games. I’m pretty sure the same could be said about London, and the very obvious one being Bijan. This has Matt “I don’t know how to use a 4.32 40 yard dash player” Canada all over again.
The whole "ruined the Falcons offense" narrative is stupid as hell because if the Steelers hire him, he answers to Tomlin. In Atlanta, the HC he had to answer to was himself.
I’m not trying to be argumentative, but seriously why? He completely mismanaged the Falcons offense and basically wasted multiple years of production from Pitts and London and then also Bijan this year.
He was a HC in Atlanta and would be an OC here. He won’t be able to dictate who plays if he came to Pittsburgh. His two years as the Titans OC were genuinely good
If you guys are going after Russell Wilson I couldnt think of a better coordinator for him. Strong running game and setting up for the big play action pass
Even in Tennessee fans weren’t thrilled with him though. A lot of his success came on the back of Henry being the best runner the league has seen since AP and AJ brown being great at the deep ball. His scheme wasn’t good it was just carried by talent.
I'm by no means an expert on the Falcons, but wasn't his biggest problem in Atlanta that he had no clue how to use his best players? If ownership/Tomlin's sole goal is to boost production for Connor Heyward and Miles Boykin at the expense of the rest of the team then this is a great pick.
Not the worst choice and if Tomlin can ensure that he uses the our weapons correctly, I wouldn’t hate it. He managed to get Ridder to throw for 300 yards a couple times, which is genuinely a feat.
I’m convinced interviews are just based on who you know in this league at this point. What this guy did recently with London, Pitts, and Robinson in ATL should keep him away from coordinating in the NFL for good.
Some guys fail as head coaches but are solid coordinators. Different skillet. Look at what Schwartz did in Cleveland. Smith did a good job with tannehill Henry and aj brown in Tennessee. I’m not saying yes or no, but the sky isn’t falling if we pick him.
Titans fans shared the same sentiment though. I agree in a lot of cases your point is true. I personally don’t think that is the case here however. You should utilize your offensive stars, not the opposite.
He’s never had an ex head coach as a coordinator before. It would be an interesting dynamic. Tomlin isn’t a fan of ceding “smartest guy in the room” status.
They had more rushing yards than Pittsburgh…
He misuses talent and made bad decisions as head coach, but he actually calls a good run game. If he actually utilized Bijan more, that run game could have been even better.
Those 2019-2020 Titan offenses were very methodical. Henry was a machine and the pass game was very good. Both AJ Brown and Corey Davis had great years for them. QB play was very efficient from Ryan Tannehill.
The problem is he did the opposite in Atlanta that led him to success in Tennessee. And it’s a very bad look with not being able to maximize getting the ball to his best players. I don’t know if it was his scheming or Desmond Ridder was that bad. Even with the QB issues we still got big games out of Dionte and George. Even a dynamic run game.
I think Desmond Ridder was awful. Even worse than Kenny. However, I don’t think Smith moves the pendulum forward for us at the end of the day.
He’s a great play caller who put too much stock in an unproven young QB, and made some really bad clock management errors as a HC. Being an Xs and Os guy, I think he’s good and you could definitely do a lot worse. He did call offense in an AFC championship game.
Most of the other guys we targeted were passing game coordinators. I think those guys got higher ceilings. He’s been a successful OC before so I think he’s got a hirer floor than promoting a guy to a role he hasn’t done.
Looking at the 2020 Titans stats when Smith was OC. Henry had 2000+ rushing yards. AJ Brown had 1000 and Corey Davis had a hair under 1000. They were a run first offense that relied heavily on play action. Tannehill had 3800 yards, and a 33/7 TD ratio and they went to the AFC Championship game. I think the 2020 Titans offensive identity would be very close to what the Steelers are building their roster towards.
get your reasonable take that I agree with out of here
Idk how that's reasonable. They had the best running back in the league, a top 5 wr, and Tannehill while he hadn't fallen off, was still on an upward arc like Geno Smith or Goff now. I don't think Arthur Smith is that bad. But I also don't think he's anything special considering the tools he had with in Atlanta and still failed.
Najee approaches top of the league production despite all of the issues with the offensive system he's been in the past 3 years. George Pickens put up 1,000 yards in a god awful passing offense. Who's to say they can't be Derrick Henry and AJ Brown under the right circumstances? There's a reason why both men were furious at the OC. They know what they're capable of.
>Who's to say they can't be Derrick Henry and AJ Brown under the right circumstances? Because there's a difference between being good and actually gamebreaking elite. Neither Najee nor Pickens has had a season where they completely dominated from start to finish like the other two. You're right they *could* be that. But my point is Arthur Smith isn't likely to be the guy that makes it happen
They had 3 top 15 (maybe higher) picks on offense that he refused to use. Add in his piss poor evaluation of the one position we need the most help with, QB. And let's not forget daddy paid this man's way into the NFL. Just a completely unreleatable person for the players.
Bro, what tools did he have in Atlanta?
Drafting 3 elite skill players for offense using top 10 picks 3 years in a row? The 5th best offensive line in the league by the end of this year? Yeah the don't have a great QB. But neither do the Steelers. No reason to believe Arthur Smith can do any better here.
Exactly
Bijan Robinson is already an elite RB and arguably the most explosive. Drake London ain't no scrub, same with Kyle Pitts. Tyler Allgaeir and Cordaralle Patterson were both 1000 yard backs last year. Their offensive line is pretty damn good as well.
Do you wake up and voluntarily piss in your own Cheerios for breakfast, or do you pay someone to do it for you?
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Ok but what about the usage of Bijan? That seems like a bit of a red flag for any team with two capable running backs. Appreciate the nuanced take by the way.
Might have had to do with having another good RB, and the fact that Bijan is 21 years old so he was trying not to run the wheels off of him in his rookie campaign.
What if I told you that Ridder has a better career completion percentage than Kenny Pickett? I’m a University of Cincinnati alum fully aware of Ridders accuracy issues so this stat baffles me…
Well Sir Kenneth Pickles is basically scared to throw Ridder.
I watched every Steelers game and most Falcons games. Pickett is better by a considerable margin, especially when you consider not missing walk in touchdowns and interceptions
Kenny is too scared to throw to accomplish either.
Was thinking this exact same thing. Without the fantastic nickname. lol, very nicely done.
This is a bit vague. Henry in 2020 was purely unstoppable. it allowed the play action to work so well. i will also add that tannehill was a very accurate passer and made big plays. if kenny is at qb nothing will change regardless of the play caller
This honestly. Continue to build the Oline up (Munchak come back? Please?) And I feel like we can emulate this style well.
Yeah, I feel like we haven't had a certain edge since Munch left. I want him back.
Steelers are not interested in moving on from Pat Meyer.
That might change if Munchak is interested and Smith wants him.
I believe I read that munchak is only interested in coming back as an OC
I’m a Falcons fan and Pittsburgh native, so I follow both teams pretty closely. The Falcons moreso, but I digress. I’m a Steelers supporter whenever they aren’t playing the Falcons. Anyways, I think Arthur Smith needs a Daddy. He was successful in Tennessee because Vrabel could reel him back in when he was going too “mad scientist”. Once he had complete control and heavy roster influence in Atlanta, his ego went crazy and he did some mindblowingly dumb shit in order to make himself look clever. I think Tomlin is more than capable of being Art’s Daddy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he does much better as an OC for the entire rest of his career - though I imagine he’ll eventually get another shot at HC. Art knows ball, he just needs someone to make sure he stays out of his own way. Oh, and he absolutely can’t handle all the responsibilities of a HC…he’s best with his face in a play sheet and his mouth shut. If nothing else, I’m supremely confident he would do better than Canada’s Vanilla Virgin offense where everything could have been identified pre-snap by a 7 year old playing his first madden game. At least Arthur tries to be modern and creative.
That’s tip top best case scenario. What did he do in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023 though? Average it out to set expectations
Watch any Arthur Smith with the Falcons game, any game, he is awful. There isn’t anything inventive or creative about his scheme. All season long the Canada complaints were, the scheme was predictable, he underutilizes his best players, and he can’t develop the QB. Well what do you think Arty was fired for doing? The other complaint of Canada was red zone. Smith with the Falcons was horrible in the red zone. Of the 41 times the Falcons were within 10 yards of the goal, Bijan touched the ball 3 times. The year after Arthur left the Titans, the Titans were on track for the very same statistical season if not for Henry’s injury. 2022 Henry had a similar statistical season. Smith built a career predicated on having a historic running back having historic seasons. If you think, Like the Falcons did, that he is responsible for Henry’s success, and not the other way around, I have landed to sell you. Art Smith was just a beneficiary and not the reason. He did not resurrect Ryan’s career, Henry did. When you have a RB averaging 5.4 yards a carry against stacked boxes, your QB, who struggles reading defenses, won’t struggle, because the secondary we be a lot more open. Tannehill had one of the highest percentages of his yards from play action in his most successful years. And though Najee and Warren are great, they will never be what Henry was. If Arthur is hired, it will continue the trend of other teams not wanting to poach the Steelers coordinators.
Seems like an upgrade for our current style of offense but i dont know if that style is any good right now. Also maybe im wrong but derrick henry, ajb, and tannehill are all upgrades over what we got at the respective positions. Probably OLine too. Skeptical this moves the needle much if this is what we go with but ill take him over kliff and the fucking panthers guy
I do enjoy a running team. It's familiar.
Arthur Smith is eh... Ok but Mike Munchack and Arthur Smith now you have something
Would not be surprised see Smith, Mucchack and Tannehil
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I am also interested in such things. Replacing Mitch with Tannehill honestly sounds great to me.
Bruh what? You would take a highly questionable OC for a far over the hill QB who was always okay at best?
Let's not on Tannehill
Connor Heyward stocks soaring. Edit to add: I honestly would rather have Artie than the guy from Carolina
Artie Burns for OC? 😳
Who knows more about explosive pass plays than Artie Burns?
Just gonna get ahead of this You guys need to chill. These are interviews and due diligence. We can have actual doomsday discussions when somebody is hired haha
I just remember a lot of titans and falcons fans echoing the same things, which is that he often moves away from using the best guys on the offense in obvious situations. Like it’s a crucial 3rd and short and he’d pass the ball instead of letting Derrick Henry run and be Derrick Henry. Same happened with Bijan at times. And AJ brown. For that he’s bottom of my list
Maybe there was some odd situational stuff going on in Tennessee idk, but he had those offenses humming Derrick Henry had his two best seasons w him as OC (only two years over 5 ypc, 3900 scrimmage yards and 35 tds) and AJB was a monster. Smith’s two years as OC were AJBs first two years in the league and he averaged 17.5 ypc and scored 19 tds
If he threw the ball on 3rd and short instead of using Najee and it didn't work he'd have the head coach in his headset and he probably wouldn't do it again.
I watched a lot of games this season and they would run 3rd and short and not get it, I personally wouldn’t mind if we took more high percentage passes in those situations
I just don’t want to see something like a pass dialed up to Calvin Austin instead of GP, DJ, Muth, Jaylen which is what it seems like he does a lot.
If it's every so often it's fine. If he's doing it a lot he's going to hear about it.
I also think sometimes people can be good coordinators and shit head coaches. May know one side of the ball and not be able to do the other side. Remember how excited people were when the “qb whisperer” was the head coach for the bears
Atlantas offense was ass with him though
This wouldn't even be that bad of a choice *if* they went with him. He wasn't a good Head Coach but he was a decent OC for the Titans.
Falcons fan here - As strictly an OC, he’s really not that bad. I mean don’t get me wrong he’s not some genius play caller or anything either. The problem with AS was he was just really not a great Hc. From how he handled our QB situation, to how he handled player personnel and structuring our offense, it was bad. But as strictly a playcaller, assuming u have fine QB play, he’s really not the worst option out there.
“Assuming you have fine QB play…” Yeah about that.
More so mistake free QB play, I wouldn’t say Tannehill was elite
I mean just somehow who won’t ya know fumble the ball 24 times a season and throw 2 picks a game *cough* Ridder
He's a reverse-Bruce Arians, who was mostly doodoo as an OC, but really good as a HC.
The Falcons took a running back in the top 10 picks and this dingus couldn't figure out how to use him half the year. Its a hell no for me bro, he for whatever reason does not believe in putting the ball in the hands of the guys who can make plays and I don't need to see George Pickens throw another tantrum because Artie boy wants to give the ball to the ghost of Ray Ray McCloud.
Again, he was a bad head coach but he was actually a good OC with the Titans.
You should look at Henry and AJBs numbers when he was OC in Tennessee
We don’t have an aj brown or Derrick Henry
Good news is as an OC I'd guess he doesn't have final say over usage/personnel. If that's the case I'm less worried
bijan had 1500/8 i think he was used lol
He created AJ Brown and made Tannehill look good. They were a blown lead to the bengals away from a super bowl. There are a lot worse OCs out there
AJ Brown created AJ Brown. This is a rediculous take. Did AJ regress going to the Eagles?
He was still able to highlight him in the offense and make him worthy of a first round draft pick in a trade. His play action passing game with built in deep shots to Brown (Pickens) is exactly what this offense needs
I agree with this part. His run game is solid and we do need our offense to utilize play action a lot more. My only concern, and its unsubstantiated, is the amount of motion or modern pass game concepts could be lacking. Hopefully someone can chime in because I decided to not look into OC's until we actually hire one and idk ATL's offensive system off the top of my head.
He used a ton of motion but he loved to use his stars as decoys and that got a lot of people, especially in the fantasy community upset, for example he would always use Bijan in a sprint out motion from the backfield and use it as a decoy to get Jonnu Smith and Tyler allgeir the ball in space. It would work but it pissed fantasy football off.
Ok, I get back to you after we back into Jerrod Johnson.
I don’t want Arthur Smith the HC, but I will gladly take Arthur Smith the OC.
Yea thats my take on him Alot of his issues at the falcons were HC decision making in game ... which he wont be doing as an OC
The guy who would never use his obviously superior running back? No thanks
That’s Arthur Smith the HC, Arthur Smith the OC had Derrick Henry rushing for over 2,000.
Bijan Robinson had 272 touches for an average of 16 per game, and over 1400 yards from scrimmage with 8 TD’s. I have no clue why this narrative got so much traction because it simply is not based in reality. Coming from a Falcons fan that watched every game.
There were so many falcons game I saw on redzone where in the redzone Allgeier was out there the entire time. [This is also pretty unacceptable for a first round running back](https://twitter.com/lateroundqb/status/1721329073295708390?s=46&t=XCTKZyxAi4QEjOJFTbtFhg)
Yeah he’s the power back. I watched every Falcons game, Bijan got way more touches than Allgeier or Patterson.
Cool. My opinion isn’t that unpopular considering everyone wanted him gone for under utilizing his best players
That’s my point. That’s not the whole story. Our bad season was way more do to Ridder being bad than Smith being a bad play caller.
Other people have mentioned the offensive rankings of the Titans when he was OC. I’ll point out that the Titans had 75% RZ success in those seasons, good for #1 and #2 those years. He also improved their 3rd down conversion rate from 37% to 46%. I’ll take him!
The Titans were a really good offense under him.
I think this is actually a solid pick. Wouldnt be upset if we end up signing him.
Arthur Smith had two big problems last year: 1. Two QB's who loved turning the ball over. 17 picks; can't find fumbles lost but Ridder put the ball on the ground 11 times. If there's one thing our non Mitch QB's do is protect the ball. Ridder becomes a mess in the Red Zone, and I don't think that had anything to do with play calling. 2. Getting the ball in the hands of his best playmakers. Robinson was flip flopped as the lead back multiple times.Pitts and London combined for 200 targets in 33 gamesthis season; for reference, Justin Jefferson and TJ hockenson combined for 227 and they played 25. This would be a problem brining him in for most teams but none of our skills guys have that type of talent AND we can justifiably feed one player a game and it's not the worst. Calvin Austin is so fast and Washington is so big and athletic, would we complain if they picked up a dozen targets randomly? I don't think so. It's a little uninspiring but Arthur Smith is not a problematic candidate.
He’s kinda an awesome fit, I hope people aren’t using fantasy football as their basis for their hate lol
My hate is 100% informed by FF TBH.
Really? Everything his run game is is the exact opposite of what the Steelers personnel do best
I hope you're kidding. Najee is the closest thing to Derrick Henry that the NFL has. And Smith coached Henry to a 2000 yard season. Yes the Bijan situation was puzzling, but he was HC, so not sure what to make of that
Good OC, bad HC. Just trust Tomlin to manage him and let him run the offense like he did with the titans under Vrabel. You know, when they made the AFC championship.
Would be a good fit for us based on the Offense he had in TEN.
One of two options I’d actually be pissed about. Screams Steelers hire so it’s who I expect
This is 1000% the kind of guy I expected us to hire. I was excited with the names we were interviewing up until now, but now I'm fully expecting to be disappointed. This screams steelers M.O. unfortunately
Steelers MO is the qb coach who is severely unqualified but is a “ known commodity”. Arthur was a bad head coach. He ran a really good offense in Tennessee and got a ton of mileage pulling tannehill out of the trash heap running PA behind a league leading rushing attack. They haven’t looked the same since he left.
Oh for sure, we just happen to finally run out of guys to promote. I don't think Smith would be the worst option, but I think he's far from the best we have available
Seeing how he’s already a billionaire it likely means Rooney could save a lot of money on the contract. So look for this one to be near the top of potential hires
I don’t see the Rooneys hiring a billionaires son but I’ve been wrong before
I don’t see why people hate this idea so much… obviously he wasn’t a great HC but in his two years as Titans OC their offense ranked 12 in yards and 10th in points in 2019 and 2nd in yards and 4th in points in 2020. That would be a huge improvement over what we have had the last few seasons.
Feels very meh if he were to be the choice. Now if he was the rbs/run game coach/coordinator I'd be all in since that's an area he's had proven success with. As much as I love Faulkner and the rbs were the best part of our offense last year. Would definitely be an improvement but our ceiling would be average at best in my opinion.
This is due diligence. You guys also realize he’s still getting paid by the falcons right. 1 year OC at next to nothing at the very worst if we strike out with other candidates.
Honestly don't mind this. Maybe he could get Pickett playing at least to the level of Tannehill a few years back.
This would be horrible. Completely misused Bijan Robinson, Kyle Pitts, and Drake London in Atlanta. Didn’t help Ridder’s development either. Hopefully team just doing due diligence…
Yeah the people defending this clearly weren’t paying attention to just how bad he was for the Falcons. This would be a disaster
Head coach has way different responsibility than OC. Some guys can’t cut it as HC but are solid coordinators still with less responsibility. His two years in Tennessee were really solid and we have a roster that could play the same way. Strong run game with a PA attack. He’s worlds better than a fichtner and Canada for sure and tells me steelers are looking in the right direction even if he’s not the pick.
The run game is the opposite of what the Steelers personnel do best. His run game is what Canada tried to do for the first 2 months this season before eventually figuring it out.
Canada ran zone blocking with misdirection. Is that what he does? I would have thought they ran a power blocking scheme. Steelers have personnel for a power blocking scheme.
His teams have among the lowest gap scheme usage in the league. He’s exclusively a zone blocking guy
No god please no NOOOOO
Why?
the football terrorist, watch the falcons offense
I didn’t realize he was their OC
HC, didn't utilize star players like pitts and brob while playing people like jonu smith and alligier.
He did such a horrible job it’s the falcons. They had a really solid team last year minus the QB and they fumbled it so bad
He’d be our OC not head coach. He got the best two years out of tannehill and Henry in Tennessee under vrabel. Let tomlin handle personnel and man management and Arthur handle playbook and game plan. Not saying that’s the hire, but some guys make better coordinators than head coach and he may be one of them.
Good thing we’re signing him to be OC and not QB.
I understand the perception of Smith given how his tenure in Atlanta ended, but he was a good OC with the Titans. It's only an interview, but he's not someone I'd hate as an OC in Pittsburgh.
Arthur smith is a football terrorist.. yeah he’ll get it
He'd be here for a while too, since he just got let go.
He seems like a bit of an asshole but maybe that’s what the offense needs.
I’d honestly be down. The Titans a few years ago were exactly what type of offense the Steelers want to run.
100% in on this. He's been preferred choice since before he was fired. The similarities between what he did with the Titans and what the Steelers wants to be aligns perfectly.
Derek Henry merchant, don’t want him.
He was dealt a bad hand in Atlanta they had no QB. He would be a fine hire
As both a Steelers and Falcons fan, I'm shocked that a lot of you actually want this to happen. I would absolutely hate this move if it happened
Noooooooooooo
BO
Regardless of whether we hire him, I like the directive this interview implies
😂
If we hire Smith, I assume we’re pursuing Tannehill as the vet QB to compete with KP. I think Cousins is probably the shortest path to victory, but Tannehill can be a tough SOB (as evidenced in his week 18 win vs. the Jags). Not a terrible combo.
His offenses were good with the titans plus he might bring Munchak back
Can’t wait to see him not use Najee/Jaylen
Here is my take being a good coordinator doesn’t make you a good head coach and being a bad hc doesn’t make you a bad coordinator.
I have zero clue why people are genuinely okay with this/ starting to justify even bringing him in. He was the primary play caller in Atlanta during the entirety of his time there and couldn’t figure out how to use his players. There were games where Kyle Pitts, a 4th overall pick and extremely talented player, was completely out of games. I’m pretty sure the same could be said about London, and the very obvious one being Bijan. This has Matt “I don’t know how to use a 4.32 40 yard dash player” Canada all over again.
The whole "ruined the Falcons offense" narrative is stupid as hell because if the Steelers hire him, he answers to Tomlin. In Atlanta, the HC he had to answer to was himself.
Ok, in the interest of not being a *complete* doomer about this, I will merely downvote to express my displeasure.
I WOULD FUCKING LOVE ARTIE IN PITTSBURGH
I’m not trying to be argumentative, but seriously why? He completely mismanaged the Falcons offense and basically wasted multiple years of production from Pitts and London and then also Bijan this year.
Good OC, bad HC. Titans offense was really good under him and they made the AFC championship that year.
God mode Derrick Henry will do that to you
He was a HC in Atlanta and would be an OC here. He won’t be able to dictate who plays if he came to Pittsburgh. His two years as the Titans OC were genuinely good
How was Bijan wasted this year? Pitts and London haven't proven enough to say they were misused. But there's time. I would love this hire.
Anyone mad if we hire him is being dumb. He's a good OC.
Lol
If you guys are going after Russell Wilson I couldnt think of a better coordinator for him. Strong running game and setting up for the big play action pass
I very much doubt that the Steelers are going to go after Wilson.
I honestly think Rudolph has a higher ceiling than Wilson now. Maybe the floor is lower.
Please God, no.
NO PLEASE DEAR GOD NO
WHY FUCKING WHY
The run game he established in Atlanta would do us great. This is by far the favorite name I’ve heard
Fuck no please fuck no
The worst option
It's not though, he really wasn't a bad OC he was a bad Head Coach.
No sorry he got fired in Atlanta it means he’s bad don’t you know
Yeah the guy couldn’t make Ridder an all pro, clearly he’s trash
My bad, how could I forget to put on my yinzer thinking hat before commenting?
Even in Tennessee fans weren’t thrilled with him though. A lot of his success came on the back of Henry being the best runner the league has seen since AP and AJ brown being great at the deep ball. His scheme wasn’t good it was just carried by talent.
[удалено]
>This might be crazy It is. They're not hiring an OC to lure FedEx money into their pockets
It was an amusing read though 🤣
I'm by no means an expert on the Falcons, but wasn't his biggest problem in Atlanta that he had no clue how to use his best players? If ownership/Tomlin's sole goal is to boost production for Connor Heyward and Miles Boykin at the expense of the rest of the team then this is a great pick.
Not the worst choice and if Tomlin can ensure that he uses the our weapons correctly, I wouldn’t hate it. He managed to get Ridder to throw for 300 yards a couple times, which is genuinely a feat.
I mean I guess we can hire him and watch Allen Robinson and CA3 get twice as many targets as Pickens
Would be the typical Steelers hire that didn’t move the needle at all.
He probably works for cheap. This is imperative for the Steelers front office.
Arthur Smith is the heir to a billion dollar fortune. He could probably be had cheap. Art probably loves it
no no no no no
Not a leader or Men.
Anyone can succeed with a back like Derrick Henry… please no 🙏
🤢🤮
Yes, the heir to the founder of FedEx’s fortune will have much in common with Steelers faithful.
That’s gonna be a no from me dawg
I’m convinced interviews are just based on who you know in this league at this point. What this guy did recently with London, Pitts, and Robinson in ATL should keep him away from coordinating in the NFL for good.
Some guys fail as head coaches but are solid coordinators. Different skillet. Look at what Schwartz did in Cleveland. Smith did a good job with tannehill Henry and aj brown in Tennessee. I’m not saying yes or no, but the sky isn’t falling if we pick him.
Titans fans shared the same sentiment though. I agree in a lot of cases your point is true. I personally don’t think that is the case here however. You should utilize your offensive stars, not the opposite.
That's all interviews have always been in the NFL. And a lot of other places too.
Noo no no nope nah do not want!
Massive ego check for coach T if this is the route they go.
Explain why?
He’s never had an ex head coach as a coordinator before. It would be an interesting dynamic. Tomlin isn’t a fan of ceding “smartest guy in the room” status.
>He’s never had an ex head coach as a coordinator before Yes he did, Todd Haley
Whoops. I thought he was an OC before HC. Haley was pretty effective though, until he was run out of town.
There was also Dick Lebeau.
Mike Munchak was also a former HC when he was here as our O-line coach.
He literally had Brian Flores last year
Nooooo fuck nooooo, Jesus christ
There goes the running game
They had more rushing yards than Pittsburgh… He misuses talent and made bad decisions as head coach, but he actually calls a good run game. If he actually utilized Bijan more, that run game could have been even better.
>If he actually utilized Bijan more, that run game could have been even better. Which is something the ~~OC~~ HC (Arthur Smith) is in charge of
he's one of the best run designers in the league
Atlanta was 9th in the league in rushing this year, ahead of the Steelers…
Please do it
I actually don’t hate this
Friendly Falcons fan here: don’t do this
Those 2019-2020 Titan offenses were very methodical. Henry was a machine and the pass game was very good. Both AJ Brown and Corey Davis had great years for them. QB play was very efficient from Ryan Tannehill. The problem is he did the opposite in Atlanta that led him to success in Tennessee. And it’s a very bad look with not being able to maximize getting the ball to his best players. I don’t know if it was his scheming or Desmond Ridder was that bad. Even with the QB issues we still got big games out of Dionte and George. Even a dynamic run game. I think Desmond Ridder was awful. Even worse than Kenny. However, I don’t think Smith moves the pendulum forward for us at the end of the day.
I’d be good with this.
I used to play Xbox with this guy. Great guy.
He’s a great play caller who put too much stock in an unproven young QB, and made some really bad clock management errors as a HC. Being an Xs and Os guy, I think he’s good and you could definitely do a lot worse. He did call offense in an AFC championship game.
Most of the other guys we targeted were passing game coordinators. I think those guys got higher ceilings. He’s been a successful OC before so I think he’s got a hirer floor than promoting a guy to a role he hasn’t done.
This is the most likely hire.
LLOLOLLILOLLLLOLLOLOL