Last season the Pittsburgh Steelers were No. 4 in the NFL in yards and No. 6 in the league in scoring. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw for more than 5,000 yards and the offense was practically unstoppable for long stretches.
But this season will be a transition for Pittsburgh and if they want to maintain the standard set, there will have to be some changes from a philosophical point of view. Here are four changes we want to see this season.
More play-action passing
Last season, Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster combined for 215 receptions. But of those, only 29 of them came off of play action. This is inexcusable with the talent there is on this roster. Using more play action can be just as useful for the run game as it is the passing attack.
More diversity in the backfield
Head coach Mike Tomlin is notorious for using a single running back approach. But this season he really needs to give a closer look at his running back depth chart and recognize the depth of talent he has on the roster. James Conner is tremendous but there is no reason not to have him healthy at the end of the season with Jaylen Samuels and Benny Snell Jr. on the team. Even using two of the three backs on the field at the same time makes sense.
Increased targets to the tight ends
The Steelers tight ends hauled in 86 receptions between Jesse James, Vance McDonald and Xavier Grimble in 2018. James is gone and replaced by rookie Zach Gentry but this doesn’t mean the tight end position should get less attention in the passing game. While everyone is worried about which wideout is going to pick up the slack but it might be easier to use a tight end.
Fewer forced shots downfield
Don’t misunderstand, no one is advocating for a dink and dunk passing attack. The Steelers have the weapons to pop the top off a defense. But when it came to the relationship between Roethlisberger and Brown we saw too many forced throws deep when down and distance didn’t warrant them. This could be one of the biggest pluses of the Brown trade.
