After the season, reports started coming out there that was some friction between Steelers starting quarterback Russell Wilson and Offensive Coordinator Arthur Smith.
Steelers insider, Gerry Dulac, wrote in the Post-Gazette on Tuesday that Smith didn’t want Wilson changing places while at the line of scrimmage, according to several sources.
Dulac writes that Wilson was changing the plays at the line when the Steelers scored 44 points in a win against Cincinnati.
After that, he was reportedly told to not go away from the game plan, a game plan that looked vanilla the last five games of the season. All games they lost.
Joe Starkey said on the Pomp & Joe Show Wednesday that he isn’t putting the offensive woes all of Smith, he’s just the latest body to hold the position.
The man that is in charge and has been for nearly two decades is Head Coach Mike Tomlin.
Whether its Matt Canada or Arthur Smith, it’s ultimately Tomlin’s team.
“It’s the head coach’s team, it’s, in many ways, the head coach’s franchise, he’s a co-CEO with Art Rooney, he’s the de-factor defensive coordinator, he’s the deciding voice on draft picks, he leads their contingent at the Senior Bowl,” said Starkey. “He’s the one who put the handcuffs on Ben (Roethlisberger) late in Ben’s career and he’s the one who put the handcuffs on Russ.”
Starkey adds he doesn’t understand Tomlin’s thinking.
“Why would you do that when the one advantage you might have . . . in a physically declining player is his mental ability as a veteran who’s seen everything,” said Starkey about Wilson and Roethlisberger. “Why in the world would you strip that?”
On his Footbahlin podcast, Roethlisberger recalled a time he talked to Tomlin about the offense.
He asked Tomlin what they should do in a situation if the defense gives them a certain look.
“’They won’t,’” Roethlisberger recalled Tomlin saying. “’I’m sorry what if they do?’ . . . I just think that something that the Steelers, they gotta get away from.”
Players change, coordinators change but the head coach remains the same and so does the offense.
Not living in your fears has turned into playing scared.
And, it doesn't really give you any optimism for the future. If the Steelers re-sign Wilson, maybe he fights back against Smith. If it's Justin Fields, it's hard to see the Steelers taking advantage of his strengths.