In just a few hours, the Pittsburgh Steelers will face the Detroit Lions in their season finale at Ford Field.
While the Lions will not use many starters, the Steelers under head coach Mike Tomlin will use a number of starters, especially on offense, in the final warm-up before the regular season.
The Steelers’ offense was a disaster in the first two preseason games, scoring only 15 points.
Veteran quarterback Russell Wilson played five series against Buffalo last week and was unable to accomplish much, largely due to the problems on the offensive line in front of him. Four-year quarterback Justin Fields also was unable to accomplish much in two preseason games, leading the Steelers to just three points total.
The preseason performances so far have many concerned and raised some questions about the offense as a whole under new coordinator Arthur Smith. While many within the Steelers organization are not panicking and understand that it is the preseason, the Steelers offense needs to perform well on the road against Detroit in their last opportunity before the regular season.
Pittsburgh has treated it as a sort of simulated game week and gone through the usual routines of preparing for a game day, including some game planning.
Below are three things the Steelers offense needs to show in the final preseason game.
1. Control of the attack line
This is clearly a team that wants to be physically dominant on offense. The Steelers have invested quite a bit in offense over the past few years, especially this past offseason in the 2024 NFL Draft. But so far, Pittsburgh has been anything but dominant on offense.
Physicality and tone have been an issue for the Steelers in the preseason, causing the offensive line to come under pressure in the first two games, especially in Week 2 against Buffalo. Much of the discussion and concern surrounding the Steelers offense since the 9-3 loss to the Bills this week has centered around the offensive line.
Broderick Jones had the worst performance of his career at any level against the Bills, allowing two sacks and getting pressured multiple times. He seemed physically outmatched. He downplayed his elbow injury this week, saying he just needed to play more physically.
That starts this week.
The same goes for the rest of the offensive line. The running game was not good for the starting lineup in the preseason, and it won’t be any easier this week against a strong Detroit team. Pittsburgh’s offensive line will have to be physical to the challenge against Detroit and come out with verve in both the running game and the pass defense.
Pass protection does not have to be passive.
2. Engage the tight ends
All season we’ve heard how good this Arthur Smith offense is going to be for tight ends, especially in the passing game, but we haven’t really seen that in the first two preseason games.
Granted, the Steelers have been pretty limited under Smith, not wanting to show too much or get too creative in the preseason. But in the first two games, the Steelers’ tight ends have caught seven passes for 48 yards and a touchdown.
Pat Freiermuth has just two catches or 16 yards, while Connor Heyward has four catches for 24 yards and the touchdown. That hasn’t been particularly lucrative. The middle of the field hasn’t been utilized by the tight ends in the passing game, and they aren’t being asked to stretch the field as much as we expected.
That will likely happen in the regular season when things fully open up under Smith, but the scheme will have to at least show some against the Lions. The tight ends have been great as playmakers under Smith in the past. There are high expectations for the Steelers’ tight ends this year.
Can we at least get a taste of it in Detroit?
3. The Matt Canada cliche: Score more points
Again, it’s only the preseason, and it’s hard to really draw any conclusions from the first two performances in the bigger picture. But against the Lions, the Steelers offense needs to score more points.
Sorry to use a Matt Canada cliche, but the Steelers need to score more points in this game, period. 15 points in two preseason games is awful. Sure, the Steelers would have scored more points against the Bills if they had played better. Chris Boswell missed a 52-yard field goal and the Steelers lost the ball twice in the red zone against Buffalo.
But “woulda, coulda, shoulda” doesn’t work in the NFL. The Steelers’ offense needs to score some points to start the regular season with momentum. Those points will preferably be scored against Detroit with Russell Wilson or Justin Fields – maybe both – as quarterbacks.
12 of the 15 points in two games were scored with Kyle Allen on the court. That’s not very reassuring.
I’m not asking for an explosion on offense and 30 points on the scoreboard at Ford Field, but I would like to see the Steelers offense put together a few scoring drives to at least alleviate some concerns about the regular season.
Those two weeks between the end of the season finale and the regular season opener on Sept. 8 in Atlanta is a long time in the football world. Create some momentum to carry over those two weeks by scoring some points and coming out of the preseason feeling relatively good.
