According to new data, Arthur Smith has been one of the NFL’s most effective offensive coordinators. His counterpart Teryl Austin is not. Steve Patton of Patton Analytics ranked all 64 NFL coordinators to create a list of play caller rankings. Smith and the Steelers’ offense ranked eighth. On the other end, Austin and the Steelers’ defense finished a lowly 29th.
Here’s the league-wide list. Pittsburgh’s offense scored 0.58 while the defense notched a minus-0.18. Combined, the Steelers ranked 19th at 0.40.
📜 Play Caller Rankings
Liam Coen's Jaguars host Mike Macdonald's Seahawks for the matchup of the week.
Brian Callahan, Mike McDaniel, and Zac Taylor’s seats have to be hotter than Cancun right now. pic.twitter.com/Fy5hRVz2lR
— Steven Patton (@PattonAnalytics) October 8, 2025
“Scoring” a player caller is difficult and of course, imperfect. Two years ago, Patton broke down how each coordinator is graded, a set of complicated metrics that also considers resources given to each coordinator. The bigger the investment, the higher the expectations. Data can’t capture a coordinator perfectly and player execution undoubtedly has an impact on the numbers but Patton’s model goes beyond baseline results.
Smith ranks near some of the top offensive minds in football and above others like Denver’s Sean Payton. Through four games and five weeks, Pittsburgh’s offense ranks 16th in scoring. The red zone offense has greatly improved and the running game came to life against the Minnesota Vikings. Smith effectively used play-action in Week 1 against the New York Jets and has protected QB Aaron Rodgers with a quick passing game, though a lack of vertical plays are notable in this offense. Still, Smith has seemingly meshed well with Rodgers, assuaging offseason concerns the two would clash.
Defensively, Mike Tomlin and not Austin is widely accepted as leading the defense. Austin’s exact influences and gameday role have remained a little murky and it would’ve been fair for Patton to put Tomlin’s name on here instead as he did with other head coaches like Dallas’ Brian Schottenheimer, Seattle’s Mike Macdonald, and Payton.
Pittsburgh’s defense has underwhelmed through four weeks but played its best ball the last two games prior to the bye. In bunches, the defense’s gotten pressures and takeaways while getting healthier. Sunday, CB Joey Porter Jr. and EDGE Alex Highsmith are expected to return from their multi-week injuries. Schematically, the Steelers haven’t shown obvious flaws and the mistakes have been more individual and execution-related. Coverages have been mostly static but that’s partly due to secondary injuries and the newness of the group. Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay, Juan Thornhill, and Chuck Clark are all newcomers who have logged substantial snaps.
These numbers shouldn’t be taken as gospel. But this data is useful not to evaluate the coordinator in a vacuum but to his peers. And it says Smith is doing a better job with his unit than Tomlin/Austin are with theirs.
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