The Pittsburgh Steelers should have a new-look offense during the 2024 season after bringing in Arthur Smith as the team's new offensive coordinator. After years of struggling under the reign of Matt Canada, the offense will have a fresh look under a proven play-caller. Smith was one of the best coordinators in the league while he was with the Tennessee Titans during the 2019 and 2020 seasons. He only held the job for two seasons before being hired by the Atlanta Falcons as their head coach.
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Steelers' Arthur Smith on the sideline during the 2024 preseason.
Smith's time in Atlanta was nowhere near as successful as his time in Tennessee. He was with the Falcons from 2021 through 2023, and his team went 7-10 in all three seasons and never made the postseason. One of the bigger storylines heading into the 2024 season is Pittsburgh's matchup with Atlanta in Week 1, which will have Smith coaching against his former team in his first game with the Steelers. The coordinator spoke about how he is feeling going into the matchup during a session with the media on Thursday morning.
"You've always got history somewhere. Obviously unusual a little bit, it is what it is, the mindset has got to be on our guys, whatever you can do just to win the game. You got to have a neutral mindset about it."
Smith coached in Atlanta as recently as 2023. A lot of the players on the Falcons are guys he pursued to acquire or drafted, so he has a lot of personal relationships with the players. The new coordinator made it clear his focus is on the players in Pittsburgh, but it's hard to imagine there won't be some pent up emotions as he takes on the organization that just fired him.
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Steelers' Arthur Smith coaching during camp while Najee Harris waits behind him.
The Falcons were never at the bottom of the league while Smith was in charge, but they showed no improvement throughout his three years there. He now gets to return to the title that got him all of his fame and praise in the league, where he will hopefully excel once again.
Smith isn't the only new piece that will be contributing to the Steelers' offense. Pittsburgh also added Russell Wilson at quarterback, who will be the starter for the foreseeable future. The new duo are clear upgrades over who held their positions during the 2023 season, which should lead to better results for Pittsburgh.
The offense has been under scrutiny since the start of the preseason, the unit hasn't looked great. The starting group didn't look good until the preseason finale, and the offensive line has been struggling throughout the entire preseason. That isn't good news for fans, especially with Wilson's recent history of holding the ball for too long and taking sacks. The quarterback led the league in sacks taken in 2022 and has been sacked 100 times over the last two seasons. This is an issue Smith will address as he tries to get the offense started on the right foot Sunday in Atlanta.
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Steelers' George Pickens talks with Raheem Morris and Mike Tomlin after a game in 2023.
Steelers Facing A Motivated Head Coach In Raheem Morris
After Atlanta fired Smith, they went out and hired Raheem Morris from the Los Angeles Rams. Morris has a lot of motivation behind him going into Week 1. There are the obvious motivations that come with a new head coaching job in the NFL; obviously he wants to get a win under his belt and start this tenure off on the right foot.
Morris is also extremely close with Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin. The two coached together during the early-2000s with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where Morris was Tomlin's assistant. Morris considers Tomlin to be his mentor, so getting a win over him would be huge for Atlanta.
Another storyline of this contest is the matchup between Morris and Smith. Smith is the offensive coordinator of course, while Morris is a defensive-minded head coach. Morris served as the interim head coach in Atlanta at the end of the 2020 season, and he did a decent job with a bad roster. The Falcons decided to hire Smith rather than keep Morris in his role. Morris left and went to the Rams, and now he is back in Atlanta.
What do you think about this interesting matchup? Let us know in the comments below!
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