It’s no secret the Pittsburgh Steelers offense has struggled. The injury to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the second week of the season put this entire group behind. But the reality is even before Big Ben went down the Pittsburgh offense was going to be a problem.
How bad are things now? According to Pro Football Focus, the Steelers offense is tied as the No. 26 offense in the league. Here’s what they had to say about it.
Since franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger went down in Week 2, 68.6% of the Steelers’ pass yards have come after the catch. That’s the highest by over 7.2%. In other words, offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner has resulted to a safe offense, living and dying by short passes and the run game. Pittsburgh’s 58 pass attempts behind the line of scrimmage are the most in the league by seven. Not to mention, they have two turnover-worthy plays on those passes while the rest of the NFL combined has one.
Pittsburgh is currently 20th in the league in points per game at 20.5. And in terms of yards per game, their 276.5 ranked 29th. Offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner has basically turtled up since he lost his quarterback and turned the Steelers offense into a shell of its former self.
When the Steelers come back off their bye week, Mason Rudolph will be back at quarterback and hopefully Fichtner will finally open up the playbook. But who can he count on among the wide receivers? So far the answer is no one.
