It's only been a few months on the job for Pittsburgh Steelers OC Arthur Smith, but day one of training camp showed that his offense fits like a glove in Pittsburgh.
A mixture of all the core principles of Steelers football, the personnel, formations and physicality that Smith employs were on full display on Thursday.
But in order to really understand why, and how Arthur Smith will get the most out of this offense in 2024, it's best to listen to a man well-versed in his language. Former Tennessee Titans QB and Pro Bowler, Ryan Tannehill.
Why Arthur Smith will mesh perfectly with Pittsburgh's needs
"Yeah, It was just great, man. I really enjoyed my time with him [Arthur Smith] as a coordinator, former Titans QB Ryan Tannehill told Chase Daniel and Dianna Russini of Scoop City . "We really had a close relationship, and, I felt like he pushed me in a way that a lot of, you know...not that other coaches didn't push me, right, but he pushed me in a great way....
"...He had just the right touch of push without being over the top where it became a negative thing. He pushed me to try unconventional things, with the play actions and things that I hadn't really done before. A lot of the stuff that we were doing, he pushed me to just jump in and give it a try, you know? So I did, and it was working. And so I just kept kept trusting him and kept, you know, leaning into it. And, together we were able to make a lot of positive strides for the offense those years."
Of all the adjectives to describe Pittsburgh's offense over the past few seasons, unconventional was not one of them. The team was often predictable, static, and stale, something that already looked different on day one of 2024 camp.
In the first Steelers practice, Smith used multiple tight ends, re-introduced the fullback to Pittsburgh's offense, used the pistol formation and targeted the defense horizontally with zone run plays.
All that was on the first day and after a surprise injury to the presumptive starting QB .
To further emphasize Tannehill's point, Smith is obviously teaching the rest of his staff to challenge their position groups, with George Pickens learning firsthand what hard coaching looks like on Thursday .
Smith will do the same with the QBs as he looks to squeeze every ounce of talent out of them.
Russell Wilson is far and away the most decorated signal caller Smith has worked with, and the OC has certainly never laid eyes on a dual-threat like Justin Fields.
It can't be forgotten that Smith revived Ryan Tannehill's career in the NFL after it looked like he was headed to the Titans to be a career backup following a rocky tenure with the Miami Dolphins.
Newsflash, but you don't earn number one overall seeds and trips to AFC championship games (feats accomplished by Smith in Tennessee) by being mediocre on offense.
Pittsburgh needed change. They needed to get back to their roots on offense, they needed to be pushed schematically and they needed unconventional.
Ryan Tannehill just explained why the OC job was Smith's all along.
Related: Steelers Training Camp Takeaways: Russell Wilson misses day one with a calf, Justin Fields takes advantage
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