On Saturday, the Pittsburgh Steelers announced they had interviewed Arthur Smith for their vacancy at offensive coordinator. Smith was recently fired as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.
At first glance, this might not seem like a great choice for Pittsburgh. After all, the Falcons went 21-30 in three seasons with Smith in charge and only ranked in the top 15 in either points or yards one time.
But to see where Smith’s skills are you have to dig deeper. There’s no doubt Smith might not be ready to be a head coach but if you look at the two seasons he was offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans, things are a little different.
Smith took over the Titans offense in 2019. The year before, the Titans were No. 27 in points and No. 25 in yards. In 2019, the group improved to 10th in scoring and 12th in yards. And 2020 was even better as the Titans were No. 4 in points and No. 2 in yards.
Perhaps the most important takeaway is that Smith was able to maximize the rushing offense while cultivating quarterback Ryan Tannehill to two of his best NFL seasons.
