With the Bengals bringing Joe Burrow to Cincinnati, Lamar Jackson showing the Ravens he has what it takes, and a new, offensive-minded head coach in Kevin Stefanski with the Cleveland Browns, the AFC North is likely to be the most competitive it’s been in recent history.
The Pittsburgh Steelers will need to step up their game on offense to compete in what will be a tough division.
Here are four areas where the Steelers need to improve to remain steady on the road to the playoffs.
Passing yards per attempt
This number should automatically recover with Ben Roethlisberger back at the helm of the Steelers offense. In 2019, between Mason Rudolph and Duck Hodges, the offense had to claw their way to a paltry 2,981 yards on 510 attempts (5.84 yards/attempt). Yards per attempt were down from 7.26 in Roethlisberger’s career 2018 season when he threw for 5,008 yards on 689 attempts.
Rushing attempts per game
Rushing attempts goes hand-in-hand with passing attempts. We witnessed the effect the limited passing game had on the Steelers ability to run the ball. The number of attempts/game actually increased to 25 from 22 in 2018, likely a result of poor QB play. It would still be wise to ramp up the attempts in 2020 simply to take some pressure off Roethlisberger and keep defenses guessing.
Red zone touchdown efficiency
The Steelers were last in the league in touchdowns per red zone appearance. Kicker Chris Boswell scored the most points (115). That should tell you all you need to know about how imperative it is to increase red zone TD efficiency.
With 13 TDs coming from within the red zone, Pittsburgh’s scoring percentage was 35 percent — a significant drop from 73 percent in 2018. They scored an average of 4.10 points via TDs in ’19 versus 5.53 in ’18.
Plays per drive
The Steelers took a tumble in this category. In 2019, the offense produced 5.2 plays per drive, down from 6.2 in ’18. What’s worse was their three-and-outs. Their league .236 average, according to Football Outsiders, ranked them 24th overall. In ’18, they stood tall in sixth place with an average of .172.
Offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner has more weapons than ever at his disposal — hopefully he will use them wisely.
