Steelers Need, and Expect More Splash Plays From Offense

The Pittsburgh Steelers want to seek out, but not force, more big plays.

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers offense moves slowly - they sit in the bottom third of the NFL in plays per game - and don't make the most of those limited opportunities - they have scored the fourth-fewest points in the league. 

Of the 12 drives quarterback Kenny Pickett and company conducted against the Miami Dolphins last week, four ended in opponent territory and of those four, all took more than 10 plays. 

Lengthy drives are nice - they usually end in points and they eat up time while opposing offenses sit dormant on the sideline - but they require clean execution sustained over a lot of plays, something the Steelers struggled to against Miami. One remedy is to hit on more big plays - a simple idea that is harder to execute.

"When you've got 11-play drives, 14-play drives to go all the way down and score without a false start, without something to set you back like we saw that happened to us, that makes it hard," quarterback Kenny Pickett said. "Splash plays shorten drives up, gives us a better opportunity, guys are fresh."

Drives of double-digit plays put a lot on this young offense to steer clear of penalties and constantly stay on schedule but hitting on those splash plays has been just as difficult for the Steelers through seven games. 

Receiver Chase Claypool was calling for more deep passes immediately following the loss to Miami, saying he didn't blame the playcalling but was hoping the Steelers could scheme up more chances for him to haul in long passes. Fellow wideout Diontae Johnson echoed that sentiment this week as they prepare for the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles. 

"We can just go out there and do what the coaches tell us to do at the end of the day," Johnson said. "We wanted to go down the field more and I believe will go down the field more this week and hopefully, we will go down the field more this season because we have the guys who can make the plays down the field. We just got to throw it up and give us a chance."

But with a rookie starting under center against an Eagles team that is second in the league in interceptions, the offense has to pick their spots. It's not as simple as just chucking the ball up more often and the Steelers don't want to try and create big gains where they're not avaliable. 

"There are times where we have to take chances and give our guys a chances to make plays down the field," Pickett said. "So there's a fine line between it and we're trying to balance that out."

But Pickett and Johnson believe they are close to hitting on these types of plays. They claim the execution they've been able to pull off in practice hasn't been replicated in-game yet, but that's part of what gives them optimism that a breakthrough is coming. 

"It's tough because like I said, nothing's really going our way," Johnson said. "We missed plays that we probably should make and whatnot. We have those little moments where it's like, 'Ah, we should have or could have done this,'. But it starts with practice and the harder you work in practice, it shows up in the game." 

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