A common theme I’ve seen on the interwebs and the talking heads sports shows lately is that the Steelers offensive game plan will be too “old school” and is out of date. That correlates with those same sources picking the Steelers to finish last in the division, hit the under in the win totals, and miss the playoffs. Fantasy sites are devoid of any men of steel listed as top or even mid-level draft picks.

It’s true that both the organization and new OC Arthur Smith prioritize a dominant offensive line and run game over a wide open passing attack. I can see why fantasy sites would want to stay away from Pittsburgh. They are looking for Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen type quarterbacks and teams that live and die on the arm of their signal caller. Three yards and a cloud of dust is not in the picture.

While the prognosticators and fantasy sites might not like it, dominating the line of scrimmage and being able to run the ball at will never go out of style. I would argue with most defenses being constructed to defend against five wide spread offenses, being a physical 12 personnel oriented offense is an advantage. It works in any weather, it isn’t bothered by crowd noise, and it keeps the other team’s skill players off the field with time of possession.

The key is converting the long drives this style of offense produces into six points as often as possible. The last few years, touchdowns were as scarce in Pittsburgh as toilet paper was during the height of Covid. What the national pundits don’t understand as they only have the fifty thousand foot view of the team is how improved this offensive game plan will be…because this year the team actually has one! An honest to goodness philosophy that is being explained and taught in detail, and has reason and logic applied to play calling in different game situations. Imagine what that will look like!

Most of those QB driven offenses have not achieved the ultimate goal themselves. Josh Allen in Buffalo, all those Aaron Rodgers led Packers teams, Justin Herbert in Los Angeles (still want to say San Diego) – they all fell short for the most part. Even the Chiefs had times where they struggled in season when they refused to run the ball even though teams were practically giving them that option in order to stop the pass. If KC had just checked their ego and ran the ball instead of forcing the pass in those games, they would have had even more success.

Giving up a big play on a pass is like being slapped. It stings for a second and looks dramatic, but people usually recover from it quickly. Getting blown off the line over and over with big runs is like getting hit with a well-placed left hook to the liver. That will ruin your whole day. There’s nothing more demoralizing to a team than not being able to stop the run. It tires out the defense and then big plays are there for the taking. It won’t win your fantasy league, but it will win games. It also sets up the Steelers own defense to be highly successful coming off the bench rested and champing at the bit.

I joined the Navy out of high school with a wife and toddler to support right out of the gate. Saying the budget was tight would be like saying Mt. Everest is a decent sized hill. The car I could afford was a 1992 Ford Escort station wagon with a whopping 88 hp in that bad boy. It did have a 5 speed manual transmission, so my man card stayed intact…somewhat. After my four years was up and I had a bit of spending money in my pocket, my first purchase was a 1996 Mustang GT. That 4.6L V8 produced 215 HP. That’s not a lot for today’s standards but going from that puny 1.9L in the Escort, it felt like a rocket ship. Sure, it was far from the fastest car on the road, but it was fast enough, and could smoke the tires and do donuts with the best of them.

That’s what Steelers fans are in for this year. We are going from the Ford Escort of Matt Canada with Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett to the Mustang GT of Arthur Smith and Russell Wilson. It might not be the flashiest car on the road, but it’s going to be so much more fun to drive and get us where we are going with a smile on our faces.

The offense of the last two years was historically bad for the team, yet they still managed to win games. The pundits don’t understand how different it will be in Pittsburgh, but the fans that have been paying attention do. All the national folks see is that it isn’t a Kansas City, Buffalo, or even Miami offense. This team isn’t built for that, and trying to be that would only end in failure. When the Steelers can line up and run the ball at will, all is right in the world, and big plays over the top will be there as a result. The Steelers finally have a clear philosophy and plan. Call it old school and out of date if you like. I call it Steelers football, and I can’t wait to see it.