Did the Steelers' offense really lose, as Mike Tomlin said last week, its "mojo?"
Well ...
"I'll be really transparent with you, I didn't mean it last week when I said it," Tomlin said during his press conference Tuesday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. "You guys ask me the question repeatedly in a bunch of different ways and I've given you the same answer, and so sometimes I just give you a colorful answer with a word like 'mojo' just so you guys can run with it and we all can move on with our day. The guys that know me, they know there's nothing mystical about performance from my mentality or our mentality. We work, we improve and then we go play. Sometimes that cycle doesn't come quick enough and we've got to stand in settings like this and absorb a lot of questions. They get repetitive, and so I gave you a little something. I don't subscribe to 'mojo' or intangible-like things and all of that B.S. We've just got to work harder, we've got to put together better plans, the guys have got to understand those plans and make subsequent plays, but oftentimes when I'm asked questions along those lines those are the answers I give, and you guys keep asking the same questions, and so I give you guys something like 'mojo' so you can run with it."
The repeated questions, as Tomlin referred to, have come as a result of the repeated inadequacies of Matt Canada's offense over the last three seasons. The Steelers rank 26th in the NFL in total offense and 21st in points per game. They haven't had an offense ranked inside the top 20 in points since 2020 and in yards since 2018. Yes, the Steelers were able to post 333 yards of offense and score two touchdowns in their 23-18 win over the Raiders Sunday night, but scoring four touchdowns in three games is hardly passable in today's NFL.
However, this doesn't necessarily mean there were no signs of improvement. Kenny Pickett rebounded to throw for a season-high 235 yards, two touchdowns, with no interceptions, and registered a 108.5 rating. Notably, Pickett hadn't surpassed the yardage mark since Week 15 of last season, and the rating marked the highest in a single game in his career. Additionally, Pickett let if fly more often downfield, averaging 8.39 yards per passing attempt, his highest since he took over at halftime in Week 4 against the Jets when he averaged 9.23 yards per attempt.
"General growth like I routinely talk about," Tomlin said of Pickett's performance. "We're putting plans together, presenting them better, he's probably absorbing them better, with more understanding and thorough understanding and thus more fluidity in decision making and more detail in performance whether it's accuracy or what have you. It's never exclusively (Pickett), although I know the job garners a certain amount of attention. We're working and improving as a collective, whether it's offense or defense or special teams."
A report surfaced late last week from an independent reporter named Jordan Schultz that Canada was set to "move into a more prominent role working with" Pickett. Tomlin swiftly shut that report down with a resounding "no" when asked if there is a change to Canada's involvement with Pickett. But, Tomlin shed light on Pickett growing his relationship with Canada over the year-plus that Pickett has been in Pittsburgh.
"In a very natural way," Tomlin said. "Whether it's week in and week out this season or whether it's the totality of two years that Kenny has been here."
The signs, at least, are trending upward.
George Pickens continues to break out and registered four catches for 75 yards, Calvin Austin broke through for his first career touchdown on a 72-yard bomb from Pickett, and Allen Robinson showed reliability by catching all four targets that went his way on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Steelers rushed for 105 yards on Sunday after entering the game with 96 total against the league's second- and third-ranked rushing defenses, respectively, and they did not turn the ball over for the first time this season.
"We're getting better. We had better," Tomlin said. "Everyone better be getting better, regardless of the outcome of games, obviously, but it's good enough to win the games. But there's some components to get better. The planning component, the coach component, the playing component, and then the adjustment component. We've been dealing with all of those things and everyone does. But I just want to be really clear about -- everyone's still very much in development, as are we, and I saw some signs there to build upon in the midst of earning a victory."
