ShareThisPittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin spent time between the Super Bowl and training camp studying offenses in the NFL and found one he would like his Steelers to emulate: the New England Patriots.
"I think the great teams are capable of winning in many forms or fashion and playing to their strengths on a week-to-week basis based on a matchup," Tomlin said. "I thought a great deal about that, frankly, this offseason.
"You study a team like New England, and they walk into a stadium offensively, and week to week they can be whatever they choose to be. They can beat you in three wides, four wides, three tight ends, and it makes them very difficult to prepare for and ultimately beat."
Who wouldn't want to have an offense like that? The last time the Patriots went through a season with Tom Brady at quarterback (2007), they scored 589 points, an average of 36.8 per game when they went 18-0 right up until the New York Giants upset them in Super Bowl XLII.
Brady threw 50 touchdown passes and for 4,806 yards, and the Patriots scored 17 more touchdowns rushing with 1,849 yards on the ground that season.
The Steelers' offense has a long way to go to reach those proportions, but it does not mean Tomlin and coordinator Bruce Arians cannot aspire to it.
"We've got a desire to win a bunch of games," Tomlin said. "We've got a bunch of guys capable of making plays. We've got three and four wideouts that we're comfortable with, two and three tight ends that we're comfortable with, two or three backs that we're comfortable with. We want to create that same persona."
The Steelers have not accomplished that goal on offense after two games. They rank in the middle of the pack in the NFL (16th) in total yards and 29th in total points (27).
They also have not struck the kind of balance Tomlin would like to see them achieve. They average 262 yards passing per game and just 70.5 rushing. They have attempted 84 passes (six resulting in sacks) and 45 runs, three of them scrambles by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
But it's early.
"I think two weeks in is too early to place a persona on anyone," Tomlin stated. "I think over time it will become obvious what we are, and we're not interested in giving anybody a heads up. ...
"You can't truly be successful unless you have some form of balance. Ultimately, though, we're interested in winning football games."
(Contact Ed Bouchette at ebouchette(at)postgazette.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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