Steelers offense deep passing game
Steelers offense deep passing game
The Steelers offense took several shots down the field in Week 1. None of them worked—nor did the officials, I might add. Despite the lack of early returns in that area, however, the coaching staff is unfazed. Relying on offseason success, the trust is there that it will show up in the regular season.
Aaron Rodgers attempted six passes of 20-plus air yards on Sunday. The Steelers completed none of them on offense, even if none of them were actually drops. Two of the best shots came to DK Metcalf, one of which was stymied by a blatant, but uncalled, defensive pass interference penalty. And Rodgers had two shots into the end zone that Metcalf and Roman Wilson couldn’t quite wrangle for difficult-but-doable catches.
Another angle on should have been PI #Steelers pic.twitter.com/Xlu8BV8dLw
— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) September 13, 2026
“I certainly think comfort has a lot to do with it, but that was something that we wanted to do was take some shots and try to stress the coverage”, said OC Brian Angelichio of the Steelers’ plan on offense, via the team’s website. “Unfortunately, we had some ops at some and we didn’t quite execute the way we wanted to”.
The deep passing game was an area of struggle last season for the Steelers’ offense. While there is a new coaching staff, the quarterback and primary target are the same. They did have their moments, at least one week last season. In theory, they should be better equipped last year to attack down the field. But until they achieve the desired results, it will be fairly called into question. Even if they believe in where they are and where they will soon be.
“We felt really good about it. We’ve completed a bunch, so we have no doubt we’ll do that in the future”, Angelichio insisted about the Steelers offense’s ability to hit the downfield throw. “But I thought the guys got on top of them and Aaron [Rodgers] threw some great balls. We’ll certainly come down with them. I don’t want to say the other part, but maybe a couple could’ve helped us as well”.
Angelichio is referencing the uncalled pass interference penalties with his latter remark, which several Steelers players and coaches on offense alluded to in their post-game remarks. They did draw one pass interference penalty early in the second quarter on a deep shot to Roman Wilson, netting 37 yards as a result. But there should have been at least one or two others.
Of course, you can’t control the decisions the officials make, so you have to work around it. That’s harder to do when the play in question occurs on third down and you have to punt on the next play, but I digress. Adversity is a part of the game, as is unfairness. The Steelers could certainly have done more for themselves, especially on offense. Finding ways to connect down the field will be part of that process going forward. They believe they have already proven this offseason they can do it—all that’s left is the doing.