The top storyline you'll hear from national sports pundits on the Steelers involves questioning whether they can survive without Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell in the offense. The natural thought is that without the two superstars and no comparable replacements, the Steelers' offense will be in shambles.
But Ben Roethlisberger and Randy Fichtner aren't about to let that happen. Sure, JuJu Smith-Schuster, James Conner, Donte Moncrief and James Washington are reasons to be hopeful about the offense, but it's not going to just be about the talent when it comes to this offense. It's going to be about efficiency.
Roethlisberger led the NFL in attempts (675), passing yards (5,129) and interceptions (16). The Steelers figure to balance their attack with a more involved run game to limit his attempts and allow for fewer mistakes. But Fichtner is also drawing up an offense that will scheme to open more receivers, regardless of their talent.
That's done by stretching the field horizontally more than vertically throughout the game. Roethlisberger has always been known for his cannon of an arm and delivering a good deep ball. But by forcing defenses to defend more options at shorter distances and opening up those receivers, Fichtner gives Roethlisberger safer throws to move the ball.
That allows for increased efficiency with the offense. It also forces defenses to be disciplined across the board instead of focusing on one or two key players. Watch this third-down conversion to Moncrief and how Roethlisberger quickly identifies the off-man coverage in Cover 1 that opens him up. Because the Titans have to respect Moncrief's speed, they give him space to work underneath and it leads to a first down:
Offensive coordinators are at their best when forcing defenders into difficult decisions. When they force them to commit to an option before the quarterback has to make his throw, it allows the quarterback time to capitalize on whatever space that defender sacrificed by committing to a route or player.
Watch this shallow cross from Smith-Schuster and how open he is, even though he's the Steelers' primary threat. The Titans run a zone defense while the Steelers run a mix of crossing routes to force Tennessee to make a choice of where and who to cover. Ryan Switzer and Vance McDonald come from the left side and draw the attention of the linebackers and safeties, while Smith-Schuster sneaks by underneath for an easy completion and first down:
Roethlisberger finished the night with eight completions on 13 attempts for 63 yards and a touchdown. His last pass was the 19-yard touchdown to Smith-Schuster on a deep post. The route was impressive by Smith-Schuster as he forced cornerback LeShaun Sims to give up his inside leverage in man coverage.
But look how the Titans committed hard to man-coverage with an all-out zero blitz. They put their defensive backs on islands against all the Steelers' receivers because of how they were getting picked apart underneath. This opened the field for the big play:
Roethlisberger will still use the deep ball to capitalize on big plays, but with a proper mixing of underneath passing those deeper passes will increase in their rate of success. Fichtner already guided the Steelers to being the NFL's best red-zone offense last year. The next step is making them more efficient across the board, and that starts with Roethlisberger.
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