DK’s Daily Shot of Steelers: A QB-proof offense?

DK’s Daily Shot of Steelers: A QB-proof offense?

[Music] I mean we all agree that quarterback is the most important position right well what if it wasn’t good morning to you good Monday morning I’m Dan kovachich of DK Pittsburgh sports this is daily shot of Steelers it comes your way bright and early every weekday if you’re into hockey Andor baseball I also offer daily shots of penguins and Pirates the other two teams in town that I cover hope you’ll check those out as well it is of course quarterback Monday around here and in plotting the course for this episode yesterday one thought occurred to me at which point I was like oh no I’m not going to do that not going to do that and I thought about it a little bit more and I I still thought I’m not going to do that I’m not going to do that no one’s going to take it seriously and then finally I’m like whatever whatever we’re still a couple weeks out from L trob there’s no availability no access to anybody associated with the team let’s give it a shot what if if only to buy time for the Arthur Smith offense to really take root the quarterback position was rendered a lot more moot than it usually is that’s not any kind of shot at Russell Wilson or Justin fields or Smith for that matter I’m not even going to begin forming opinions on how any of those individuals do until real games begin because we all know say it with me preseason doesn’t count but the regular season games do and as I’ve been expressing to you for a while now I have a concern about the first four to six weeks not because of the schedule or the opponents or the travel or any of that stuff but because there are so many new and moving Parts involved in this offense that I find it unfathomable that they could just come out firing on all cylinders a new and extremely young offensive line still an unknown as far as your main possession receiver Pat fouth elevated to an unprecedented level of receiver Dum I guess you could call it two new quarterbacks a new coordinator new playbook and yeah you know getting out there for a handful of series over three exhibitions isn’t going to do it a month in L trobe isn’t going to do it and since those games count in the standings meaning the first few in the regular season you still want to win them even while you’re getting better right okay so stay with me on this what if the offense were to essentially take all of the pressure or most of the pressure off the quarterback position by being extraordinarily heavy on the run or if and when they do throw the ball have it be really safe I’m not talking about Matt Canada safe as in you never throw across the middle there are ways to throw safely across the middle and I’m definitely not in favor of a whole bunch of sideways this sideways that although for the record Russell Wilson was doing a lot of sideways last year in Denver all I’m saying is take it easy take it slow pin the ears back on the young offensive lineman let them block let Naji Harris and Jaylen Warren pick up the yards let them set the tempo let friu get involved in that capacity too throw him some 100 percenters right across the middle take the occasional shot with George or Roman Wilson or whoever even utiliz George in a way similar to what Mason Rudolph did over the final month of last season when he was running those and you’ll remember as I mentioned it a lot of those quick Slants two maybe not even three steps off the line of scrimmage and he’d get the ball and he’d make something happen after that utilized Harrison Warren in the passing game which by the way I understand is a big big part of what’s coming coming anyway so what that does is it kind of takes the ball to an extent out of Wilson’s hands in terms of his control of the offense his needing to be the one who makes the offense go the schemes are simpler the blockings simpler the focus is way more on Brute Force physicality knock the other guys on their rear ends than it is on how smart and Savvy our guys are the other benefit to that of course is that the offense stays on the field the defense is more rested you should have a wealth of Splash out of that defense I’m sorry I know it’s not usually fair to predict Splash because there’s all kinds of variables involved but TJ watt make a Fitzpatrick all those inside linebackers all of a sudden Joey Porter Jr you’re well within your rights to expect Splash especially if those guys are fresh now if what I’m saying to you sounds like hey aren’t you just basically describing Smith’s previous offense in Atlanta you know what’s funny you guys we have a a tendency here and we’ve obviously had it for years as people who follow the game of football to just turn our noses up at the Falcons and and that’s reasonable I me they haven’t done anything in Forever but their offense the Arthur Smith offense in Atlanta last season ranked 22nd in passing with 207 yards per game and the Steelers ranked 25th with 186 the Falcons rushing offense ranked Ninth at 127 yards per game the Steelers rushing offense ranked 13th with 118 the Falcons scored a poultry 18.9 points per game ranking 26th in the league the Steelers scored a pouer 17.9 points per game ranking 28th so whatever it was that you did like about the Steelers offense last season up to an including whenever Rudolph came in and it finally started moving a little bit remember that they were worse than Atlanta was and that was with Desmond Ritter at quarterback what I’m saying here is that Smith knows how to do this he knows how to work around a lesser quarterback now he’s not going to have of course in Pittsburgh a lesser quarterback he’s going to have a significantly better one Wilson’s way better than the guy they had in Atlanta but he can utilize a lot of those lessons toward allowing this offense to get to where it needs to be for what I’m sure we’d all agree is the much more challenging part of the schedule in the second half when we come back j1q Luxenberg garbett Kelly and George lgkg is a personal injury law firm in Western Pennsylvania that represents people hurt in car accidents or who need help with workers comp or medical malpractice when the attorneys at LG kg make you a promise they keep it they’ve been keeping promises in our region for over 80 years LG kg’s been AV rated the highest rating a law firm can receive and they’ve been designated Super Lawyers that’s actually a thing for over 15 years it’s a rare combination LG kg has offices in Cranberry Newcastle Beaver Falls Butler and lwood City learn more about them by visiting LG kg.cm [Music] today’s j1q is in response to the subject that I was hitting on last Friday’s episode about the pluses and minuses of having such a young offensive line Monica says DK don’t you also have to consider that your quarterback Russell Wilson isn’t the easiest guy in the world to block for I mean I think you do I think you do have to think about it however if you go back to what the thrust of that episode was it was should or even could Dan Moore start at right tackle ahead of Troy fanu or should or could Nate herbing start ahead of Zack Frasier at Center both of those in the name of experience well I happen to agree with you Monica and I happen to feel that experience in these two cases might not mean anything at all look at it this way what’s Moore’s strength as an offensive lineman good run blocker what’s his shortcoming not such a good pass blocker which position is Moore’s best left tackle which position isn’t his best right tackle so is there really any kind of an experience Edge there for him no probably not if anything even though he’s only played college ball to date fanu might actually match him in this regard and where senator’s concerned respectfully to herbig I I can’t entertain the idea of herbick starting over Frasier not on Merit anyway maybe with an injury or whatever everything that I’ve heard from southwater Street has strongly suggested Frasier will be the starter at that position but does Wilson’s style add to the climb that the three kids and even the two veterans have to make yeah yeah I’m going to remind everybody here when this subject comes up that the person who was the most vocal late last season about really enjoying blocking for Mason Rudolph because Rudolph would just find a spot in the pocket and he’d hold it for all eternity was Isaac sealo the veteran Isaac got tired of playing headless chicken every time Kenny picket would do that roll to the left and it would make everybody on the line look bad even though it was Kenny basically running into his own sack so all five of these guys all five of them have to learn what Wilson likes to do when he likes to improvise where he likes to go when he improvises what kind kind of blocks he likes from them is it a chip is it a hold on to that guy meaning a seal not an illegal maneuver obviously but then I swing right back to what the opening subject today was about and that’s that this is all better off the simpler it gets especially at the start if Smith can tell Wilson hey dude love what you’ve done your whole career for about 3 or 4 weeks we need you to just paint by numbers okay keep it basic it’s going to be best for all of us and then once we get through the month or even through a by week or whatever it is we’re going to be ready to really let loose but we got to build this Foundation First I appreciate the question Monica I appreciate everybody listening to daily shot of Steelers we’re going to do another one of these tomorrow [Music]

A quarterback-proof offense? At least in the early going?

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