Did Steelers' Arthur Smith show more good than bad in debut as OC? Cameron Johnston a major loss?

chip Tam and football that's what Pittsburgh does what's up everybody welcome back to another episode of the show Brian batco with you from the post cazette one of our Steelers beat writers and pleased to be joined today by Rob King the new voice of the Steelers on the Steeler audio Network Play byplay Man fresh off of his regular season debut thanks for joining us Rob how are you uh doing well Brian thanks for having me for sure and as always this show brought to you by Pella no better place to get new windows and doors installed in your home than Pella it can help you save on energy costs year round schedule a free inhome consultation with your local Pella windows and doors to find the right product for your home in your budget give them a call at 866 5931 1560 to discuss that project further that's 866 593 1560 to get started on your new windows and doors installation with Pella Windows and Doors of Pittsburgh all right Rob first things first how did the maiden voyage go because obviously you had a few pre-season games on the mic but now it all counts every play every point and you you did get a little bit of a a layup right off the bat when the Falcons made ruk aoro in active so they they gave you a little solid right right from the junk a r r row yeah I was ready with that one uh but uh he he didn't play you know I think the fact uh Brian that I did four games for Bill filling in a few years ago and had the whole preseason um to kind of get re acclimated to it uh for me personally helped it uh uh I think helped me be more comfortable with the process and what's going on and then you know having Max there from the jump you know he does the TV then comes over Missy does just the TV so to have her in there and have the whole crew um you know it's it's I mean I'm blessed to have a job it's it's it's an awesome job and uh I I'm happy to be underway absolutely yeah we were uh you know watching from the Press Box just as you guys were um 1810 win for the Steelers over the Falcons to kick off this season and and it's kind of a tale of two storylines there I mean you're you're pleased if you're a Steelers fan that you get out of stadium with a W and after a week that you were in flux with the most important position on the field but also you take a step back and you know all this chatter about who's going to score the first touchdown of the Steelers season in 2024 well the proverbial pot rolls over from week one to week two because nobody has has done it yet um what do you make of the the struggles there Rob and what do you think this team needs to do offensively to to try to you know punch one in and and does it change based on who's under Center for that yeah I mean I'm not overly concerned by that Brian I mean I know a lot of people get get worked up about it you know I just like it felt um it felt better watching the game it felt more like we were watching an offense that was laying down to me laying down a foundation hopefully for success in the future I never really got that feeling over the last couple years it never really felt like one thing was leading to another I think for example in the second half you know I was asked yesterday in the radio what is my takeaway from the game My takea away from the game is the second half the defense completely dominated the Falcons and a Falcons offense that expects to be much much better this year um you know you keep in mind that Arthur Smith had when he was the coach down there he had a quarterback who is not in the NFL right now that's who his quarterback was and they went seven- 10 so if you're the Falcons you think okay well we have all these high draft picks we've got a really good offensive line if we take a four-time pro bowler and put him in here it's bound to make our offense better well the Steelers got adjusted to what the Rams are doing quickly and completely shut him down in the second half so I was really impressed I thought the new additions on defense are great offensively I thought their best Drive was the one that stalled um the one that they went for on a fourth and one and that's later in the game and I think that's hopefully what we're going to see Brian is a an offense that's better in the second half than they are in the first half because you know to use a boxing analogy they're trying to land body blows early on hoping that it's going to weaken their opponent later in the game I think that's what I I saw two things one Justin field getting more comfortable and two the effect of the running game starting to pay some dividends I thought in the second half so and and then Mike Tom's always coached to the the game you know he doesn't coach to the scoreboard he doesn't coach to a flip card in front of him saying go for it you know if the wind's coming from the southeast and you have the ball to 41 and it's uh you know it's Fourth and a yard and a half you go for it you know he he he plays the game and I think they did what they needed to do let Chris Boswell kick field goals don't try to do anything crazy don't turn the ball over let them turn the ball over let your defense do the job and win the game and that's what they did and remember too people forget they were a three and a half Point Underdog in this game and they won it by eight so I I don't see I understand where people want to see more but I think that they I saw plenty I saw a victory over a team that was favored by you Over You by three and a half and you won by eight yeah and Justin Fields if if you could see the Jitters for a player I almost feel like they were coming off of them on that first series I mean it was it was loud in there I mean there was a ton of Steeler spans but I think whatever amount of juice the Falcons faithful had in them they were kind of letting loose on it for that first possession uh for fields and yeah I mean you get the the dropped snap and then he missed to Van Jefferson and I give him credit Rob for that you know the the postgame he's like look that's on me I can't have that and it won't happen again so I mean hey for what it's worth uh he he's approaching that the right way and I'm glad you brought up um you know the the just kind of the flow of the game from Mike tomman because I thought Arthur Smith had a good feel for the flow of the game too and while it would be easy to see from the outside the box score doesn't look pretty and yeah I mean you settle for six field goals you might think the offensive coordinator had a rough day at the office and it wasn't all smooth but you know dialing up that that one deep ball there in in the second half where I just felt being in the stadium I was like okay there's kind of a long time out like there was some sort of lull and then all of a sudden I mean he just boom calls the play action and and Fields hits George Pickins for one of their big plays you have to think human nature there's a little bit of a weight off of him even though he said all the right things about going back to Atlanta you have to think all right we got through that game I I I beat my former team even if he wasn't you know had having any AXS to grind you've got that out of the way now okay on to week two and and Beyond and he can kind of get deeper into that Playbook maybe and uh get a better feel for the Personnel that he has didn't have Jaylen Warren didn't have the quarterback he expected to have out there um and and I'm glad you brought up that play Brian because that was a great play you know he's Fields is rolling left and I'm like what what what's what's the end game here what do they doing here and then he throws it back across the field on a rocket I mean just that was probably his best throw of the game and it got you an important field goal you're getting the ball to begin the second half and all of a sudden you're like oh hey we're 10 n no big deal um I I thought that was an important conversion for the Steelers I do think um that Arthur Smith is has got to feel pretty good about winning that game I mean as he said going into the week it's it's amazing right that oh hey we just happened to have the Falcons and Steelers in week one with the coordinator going back to the team that he coached and you know the other thing that that was heartening for me was to see the quotes of the Falcons players they they seem to really really like playing for Arthur Smith and really wished him well um you know before the game hey L playing for him he was a really good guy and really good coach and and so that's got to feel gratified as well to hear those comments and then to go on the road and and win um and again offensively you know you did enough to win the game um when your defense is rolling like that it doesn't matter now at some point as we know at some point you're gonna have to score 30 points right you're not going to win every game 18 to 10 no matter how good your defense is other teams are too good but for this game it was plenty and I didn't see any reason to risk turnovers I you have you know I saw reasons to kick field goals but frankly and um and that's what they did and and they wound up winning the game and I I think we're going to see better and we'll see jayen Warren healthy that's going to make a big difference I I think we're going to see some things with this offense I think it's a good platform from which to build yeah yeah for sure I mean that play to um yeah to to steal those three points uh right before the end of the the half there was was huge and I think too like Justin Fields he's kind of got that cool composure about him and you know when you see him on the field in interviews but I have to imagine after the way things went with the Bears probably doesn't hurt to build that confidence back up and it might come a little bit slowly you know maybe there will be a jolt from from winning this game in his hometown but yeah I mean I think it was kind of a delicate situation there for him just having been thrown in there what middle of practice Thursday now all of a sudden you've got to flip your whole mindset even though he said his mentality on Friday was that he always prepares as if he's the starter well preparing as if you're the starter and actually being the starter are two pretty different things and and he was sort of walking on eggshells there uh throughout the the latter portion of that week so yeah I mean I think that was an interesting balance for Arthur Smith to strike there of hey go be you use your legs let's just find a way to get out of the stadium as Mike Tomlin says and then we can we can all sort of take a collective breath uh you know Sunday at 4:15 p.m. if we get win and we'll figure it out from there so speaking of the figuring it out from there do you have any sort of feeling or sense of who's going to be there I mean and we're going to hear from Mike Tomlin in a couple hours here Rob on the south side I mean what do you make of the the quarterback situation at at this point and you know as much as an Arthur Smith Revenge game was tantalizing for week one would have been even more so if the NFL decided uh let's line up Steelers Broncos to kick off the 2024 season yeah I'm I'm I'm looking forward to that decision and and again I think you're right about Justin fields and I think you know we didn't see a lot of quarterback power plays which I think you know quarterback leads where he's just G to clearly get the ball run behind blockers they did it late in the game in that drive that that uh stalled um on the fourth down I think that's something that Justin Fields can bring to the table and also one one other final thing a lot of people making um a lot of the ball not being thrown over the middle of the field well I think that my guess is that the Steelers still view Justin Fields as a person that they're that's not a finished product trying to they're trying like you said to bring the confidence up um make sure the footwork and all the technique things are good we know he can run we know he's an elite Runner we know he's got a lead arm strength but the some of the footwork or other things can you bring those along well who's in the middle of the field for the Falcons Jesse Bates a pro bowler who led the league in interceptions with six Justin Simmons another pro bowler who has more interceptions from 2017 to the present than any other player in the NFL why would you want to test the middle of the field so um I'm okay with that again you can't make a living I don't think scoring 18 points every week and I don't think you can make a living never testing the middle of the field but that having been said I just wanted to wrap that up with with uh Fields I don't know who's going to play I think that the Russell Wilson um you know him getting an opportunity out there would be interesting I think that um I I don't know which way they're going to go I mean I think if it was if the Steelers were 4-0 and Justin fields at quarterback I think it would be a pretty easy decision you just keep riding Justin Fields um but you know you're four days removed from Russell Wilson being your starter so we'll see um but it wouldn't be the first time I'd be surprised by a move so uh you know and I and I think they put themselves in an interesting spot at the quarterback position right so uh we'll see it's going to be you know U but but Russell Wilson playing in Denver would be a lot of fun for a coach that benched him yeah I mean it was an ignominious ending to say the least for him in Denver so uh and you know a lot of people are questioning whether that's derailed you know has that possibly derailed his trip to Canton I mean I don't think so but I mean you know a a good solid year quarterbacking a team to the playoffs uh is going to you know cement your status I think um there's a lot of things for Russell Wilson to play for and I think a winning a win in Denver is definitely one of them and it's it's interesting though because it's kind of there's two sides of the coin there to that logic I mean on one hand yes he's got to be champing at the bit to to beat the team that yeah I mean it kind of just dump dumped him on the side of the road and and kept driving um but on the flip side of that if he's not 100% right then you're potentially putting yourself out there and you know you might be risking a a poor performance against that team who you wouldn't want to do that against more than probably anybody else in the league right now so I mean it it could be similar to the tail end of of last week where it's kind of very much a fluid situation of how he's feeling how the docs are are kind of reporting to Mike Tomlin what it's looking like and you know I don't know if we're going to get clarity in a couple hours or if we're going to be taking this into late Saturday night again uh Sunday morning before in or I guess it'll be afternoon there when inactives come out but yeah I mean it's uh at least you know you see Mike Tomlin framing it as it's it's a good problem to have sort of that we've got two guys we feel comfortable with and he can just go by all right who's given us the best chance to win with what we know of of both right now and yeah I wouldn't say Fields up and seized the job no looking back with the way he played Sunday but yes I think he did enough to build on and you know make it so that Mike Tomlin is not caught between a rock and a hard place I I did want to point out uh actually I think now that I J you know jostled my memory a little bit the play I was talking about was the 40 yard completion to Pickins I think it was end of the third quarter yeah yeah late in the third quarter where yeah there was like a penalty on the Falcons and one of those long you know media timeouts for you Pros in the booth and and uh you know the air was kind of coming out of Mercedes-Benz Stadium a little bit and uh yeah I thought that was a good one to dial up for Arthur Smith all right we've talked a lot about the offense defensively Rob before we get out of here you know latest move that hasn't been officially announced by the Steelers but by all indications it's coming Terrell Edmonds former first round pick coming back to town to to join this safety room what do you make of that signing you know good depth and obviously a guy who's been around and probably somebody they're comfortable with both uh you know in the the defense if they need them in some way and on teams too yeah I think both right I think he can contribute in both and um you know they uh the the cam Johnston injury to me it was such a big injury you know when you go in and you're hoping that this Dynamic kickoff is going to lead to kick returns you've got the greatest kick returner in NFL history um and jayen Warren back there just watching balls sail over their head so hopefully I I hope they'll amend the rule and and try get back to more kickoff returns but between those two and cam Johnston I thought that the Steelers went into this season with the best special teams I can remember in quite some time you know just to try in an attempt to try to quantify what a punter can mean to a team what cam Johnson could mean versus Presley Harvin I looked at their average net um and again you have different coverage units but I just tried to make it simple average net um how many times did you punt a game and and and what is the difference in yards per game and it was 25 yards per game and Brian if you described that from the from the kicking game to the offense let's just say you added that 25 yards to the offense the Steelers offense would have gone from 25th to 19th last year six spots moving up by changing your punter that's how significant cam Johnson could be um really well-liked good guy too so that's a big that was deflating to see too and it also like I don't know I guess this isn't really like right but I mean I just feel like you know most of the positions on a football field you go into a game knowing I'm G to get hit I'm G to get hit hard injury rate of of this sport is 100% when it happens to the punter it's almost just kind of like really I mean and especially that's one of the most vulnerable positions anybody can be in a football field where your right leg or left leg is fully extended like that that just that was tough to see for a guy who yeah he's very lowkey in the locker room keeps a low profile he's got a young kid and uh you hate to see his 2024 season go down in flames in week one yeah it's awful and and it takes what to me was had become an advantage for the Steelers you know they made a lot of great additions in the offseason I love Des Shawn Elliott as a player always have I think he's gonna have an effect on mink Fitzpatrick Patrick Queen We Know Dante Jackson with the speed now uh getting to sort of play on the other side of Joey Porter Jr um I really at pton Wilson at the middle linebacker position I like what they did defensively um I thought they made a lot of good additions you know they've they've OB obviously changed over the quarterback position um and and added some significance there but I really thought the special teams was going to be a huge Advantage for them this year and now we'll see um if corus waitman um can provide that kind of difference for the Steelers as for Edmonds I think he's gonna you know he's a he's a he's hopefully going to be a good quality depth piece and special teamer um that's the one part uh that's what made me think about it the one part I think they're still probably sifting through is they lost both their Gunners from a year ago um they did give up one one good punt return um I'm sure Danny Smith's not going to want any good punt returns uh so that's he's a guy I think that can add in in those categories and just anything you can add to that defense that was just dominant um that second half was a dominating performance um I I think that uh you know that's an offense that's expected to be vastly improved and the Steelers just completely shut him down in the second half yeah and as far as the safety backups go I think the Steelers also liked what they were getting out of rookie sixth rounder Ryan Watts right in training camp and then of course you know scary injury to him in the third preseason game and he's out for the year so maybe Edmund signings the other shooted drop there as well so I think that's uh all we've got for today Rob uh thanks everybody for checking us out again on the Chip tamam And football show from the post are you a Wedding Crashers guy no oh do I need to be yeah yeah that's the old uh they have a line in their crab cakes and football that's what Maryland does so okay that's that's where we take our uh our show title from thank you thank you and yes as always uh the podcast brought to you by Pella and Goldberg persy and white If you're diagnosed with mesothelioma or lung cancer call your local attorneys at Goldberg persy and white for over 40 years their firms represented thousands of lung cancer and mesothelia victims call 1800 complex or visit gpw law.com for a free consultation Rob thanks so much man this was fun appreciate you coming on as uh we rotate through guests throughout uh every season and I will either see you at the facility this week or see you out in in Denver in the mile high city all right both I would expect Brian thanks very much appreciate it sure thing for Rob King I'm Brian batco appreciate you checking us out here on the post gazettes podcast Network we'll be back with plenty of shows throughout the week and stay tuned for our coverage of Mike tomlin's Tuesday press conference coming up at noon thank you for checking out this content from Post Gazette sports if you watch this video on YouTube please like the video and subscribe to our channel for all of the sports covers the Post Gazette has to offer visit postgazette.com [Music]