Arthur Smith: ‘We Got To Get Out Our Own Way’
New Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith says the starting offense needs to get out of its own way.
His comments follow two preseason games in which the starting group has failed to muster a point. As a whole, the Steelers offense has only scored 15 points during preseason.
Arthur Smith, who replaces the fired Matt Canada, says fans should not react to the disjointed nature of preseason.
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“We need to evaluate (players), and so sometimes it can get distorted, good or bad,” Smith said.
“Preseason could distort reality, good or bad. We’ve all seen it.”
He is correct, of course. Last preseason Pittsburgh’s offense were 5 of 5 on offensive possessions but struggled mightily in the regular season.
It’s going to take more than that to reassure Steelers fans, however. They have watched an ineffective offense for the past two seasons. In truth, they’re still searching for a quarterback solution in the wake of Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement.
In response to this, the quarterback room has been revamped with Pickett, Trubisky and Rudolph all leaving the team. Russell Wilson and Justin Fields have been brought in, but neither has convinced so far in preseason.
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“You know that’s not their standard, and that’s not acceptable, but at the same time, you’d rather go through that now than have that happen Week 1,” said Arthur Smith.
“There’s a lot going on there. We’ve had a really good camp, but the reality is, when we’ve got in there in the lights, we found a way to — and this is taking nothing away from the other defense — but we got to get out of our own way. Those are the things we have to clean up.”
