The Pittsburgh Steelers were not exactly a big-play offense last year. They ranked 22nd in 20-yard pass plays and 30th in 40-yard pass plays. Their eight rushes of 20 yards or more was 23rd, and they were one of three teams with zero runs of 40 or more yards.
Some of that had simply to do with the state of the offense in a period of transition. They had Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback for the better part of the past two decades, the entirety of head coach Mike Tomlin’s tenure here. A rookie quarterback and a still inexperienced play-caller with a young nucleus around him had Tomlin choosing to say “whoa” rather than “sic ‘em”.