The Pittsburgh Steelers have had a miserable handful of seasons on the offensive side of the ball, and a lot of that was due to former Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada. Canada was fired in the middle of the 2023 season, which was his third year in the role with the organization. Pittsburgh went out and hired Arthur Smith during the 2024 offseason in an effort to improve the offense, and so far, players have had nothing but good things to say about the new system.

The offense has seemed to be clicking so far in training camp, with players like George Pickens and Justin Fields continuously making highlight-reel plays on one of the league’s best defenses. The group seems to have a new confidence and swagger about them while operating under Smith. Starting right guard James Daniels was asked by Aaron Becker about new changes within the offense since Smith has joined the organization.

“Obviously, it’s the scheme. I just feel like right now, how the offense is running, everyone has complete trust in him [Arthur Smith] and I don’t think we’ve had that before. So, everyone trusts Art and he’s been doing a good job so far.”

The scheme changes with each offensive coordinator, which obviously takes some adjusting for every player. Things have seemed to click relatively quickly for Pittsburgh’s offense. Daniels mentioned being able to trust Smith, and took a noticeable shot in Canada’s direction by saying they haven’t had that in an offensive coordinator before. Not being able to trust Canada makes a lot of sense based off of how the offense has performed over the last couple of seasons.

Typically, coaches shouldn’t have to earn the trust of their players. It should be the other way around, where a player is trying to get a coach to trust them so they could get more playing time or touches. This demonstrates the exact issue the Steelers offense has had over the last several seasons. None of the players could trust Canada, so they weren’t bought in to his offense or play style. Rarely was there ever a good offensive showing with Canada running things.

Pittsburgh’s offense ranked 25th or worse in nearly every major statistical category during the 2023 season. After Canada was fired, Eddie Faulkner and Mike Sullivan combined their efforts to improve the offensive side of the ball. There was some improvement, but not enough as they were still mostly operating Canada’s scheme.

Now, Pittsburgh gets a coordinator who has proven himself in the role. Smith ran one of the best offenses in the league during the 2019 and 2020 seasons while he was with the Tennessee Titans, which wound up getting him a head coaching job with the Atlanta Falcons. Smith’s run-heavy offense gels with the Steelers personnel well, as they have invested a lot into the offensive line and have one of the best running back duos in the league.

Steelers’ Arthur Smith Wanted To Come To Pittsburgh To Learn From Mike Tomlin

Smith was fired by the Falcons after the 2023 season which was his third season serving as the team’s head coach. He had his fair share of struggles in Atlanta, as his team went 7-10 in all three seasons. He still could be one of the best coordinators in the league, as there are plenty of great coordinators who couldn’t succeed as a head coach. This made Smith a hot commodity as several teams sought out his services.

What drew Smith to Pittsburgh was what draws a lot of people to Pittsburgh: Head Coach Mike Tomlin. Smith still has the desire to one day be a successful head coach in the NFL, so the opportunity to learn from the longest tenured coach in the league was one he couldn’t pass up. Smith can improve the Steelers offense, which the organization desperately needs; and he can learn under the tutelage of Tomlin.