Steelers OC Arthur Smith Denies There Was Tension with Russell Wilson: ‘Fantastical Narrative'

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PITTSBURGH — In February, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Arthur Smith did not want Russell Wilson changing plays at the line of scrimmage despite the quarterback's big game in the Week 13 win over Cincinnati. The Steelers scored a season-high 44 points against the Bengals and Wilson posted an impressive 414 yards passing to go along with three touchdown passes.
Former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said on his Footbahlin podcast with Pat McAfee that Smith was not fond of Wilson changing play at the line of scrimmage.
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'Arthur Smith has to understand he has to let the quarterback have some rein,' Roethlisberger said. 'I was told he really pulled the reins back on Russ. In the two-minute drill, wouldn't let Russ call his own plays. You have to let a quarterback do that stuff.'
During his media availability on Wednesday, Arthur Smith refuted the narrative that he had a bad working relationship with Wilson.
'Yeah, I know that's a hot button issue here. It's the first place I've ever been in the NFL, so you get a little the history of a place. Again, every quarterback is different. Every offensive scheme is different. I've never had the privilege of working with Ben [Roethlisberger]. You're talking about a Hall of Fame quarterback, and he was here for a long time, and he's a gold jacket player, and I'm not sure how he did things,' Smith said. 'So, sometimes, when you're answering questions, that may be the reference point. A lot of times last year, every quarterback I've had, audible is such a vague term. So not to get too deep in the weeds or the scheme, but you're talking about, we've got multiple things that evolve every year, depending on who the quarterback is, just like we did last year, and it didn't change.
'With Justin [Fields] or Russ [Wilson], and the way we tried to evolve, it didn't change. Whether we're talking about cans, checks, alerts, signals, you want to put those in audibles, great, but we never fundamentally changed. I mean, we obviously schematically shifted to try to play a little bit differently with Justin than Russ, but the operation never changed. So, whatever the fantastical narrative was that we're just calling plays at the line, I don't know the history of the reference. I just know what we did in Pittsburgh in '24, and our issue at the end of the year was we weren't good enough.
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'And as a leader, you take accountability, and that's on you, but there's multiple issues, and we have to be playing our best at the end of the year. You know, we're rolling. That's where you have to be accountable as a leader. And so obviously,we'll have a different setup this year. Roster wise, obviously new players, DK [Metcalf], Aaron [Rodgers], some of the other guys we brought in. [Kenneth] Gainwell, drafted Kaleb (Johnson). So, every year is a different journey, and it's exciting to have Aaron here and to get to work with him.'
Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith and quarterback Russell Wilson at practice on Jan. 9, 2025 — Ed Thompson/ Steelers Now
Wilson, 36, spent the 2024 season with the Steelers in what was a tale of two halves. After returning from a calf injury in Week 7, Wilson helped rattle off six wins in seven games. But his play took a downturn on the team's five-game losing streak to end the season.
During that span, the Steelers failed to score more than 17 points in every game, a streak that hasn't occurred since Chuck Noll's first season in 1969. It's safe to say that left a sour taste in the Steelers mouths and played a role in Wilson not returning.
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Despite things not working out, Russell Wilson has had nothing but good things to say about the Pittsburgh Steelers organization since departing to New York. He was complimentary of the Steelers during his introductory press conference with the Giants in March, and he had similar sentiments during a recent interview on 7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony.
'Pittsburgh was a good place for me,' Wilson said. 'It really helped rejuvenate me in every way because of the locker room there, the pros, guys like T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward, guys like Miles Killebrew, those captains. And then just the guys I was around, the hard work those guys put in.
'I remember seeing a guy like Calvin Austin III, young star, who just wanted to be great, came to San Diego, wanted to work with me. Just guys that I really appreciate. Guys like Najee Harris and how he went about practicing hard every day. Different guys you get to know, teammates like Dan Moore, who I got to be really close with, and many others.'
Alan Saunders and Brendan Howe provided reporting from Pittsburgh.
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Yeah, I know that's a hot button issue here. It's the first place I've ever been in the NFL, so you get a little the history of a place.
Again, every quarterback is different. Every offensive scheme is different. I've never had the privilege of working with Ben
[Roethlisberger]. You're talking about a Hall of Fame quarterback, and he was here for a long time, and he's a gold jacket player,
and I'm not sure how he did things. So, sometimes, when you're answering questions, that may be the reference point. A lot of
times last year, every quarterback I've had, audible is such a vague term. So not to get too deep in the weeds or the scheme, but
you're talking about, we've got multiple things that evolve every year, depending on who the quarterback is, just like we did
last year, and it didn't change. With Justin [Fields] or Russ [Wilson], and the way we tried to evolve, it didn't change. Whether
we're talking about cans, checks, alerts, signals, you want to put those in audibles, great, but we never fundamentally changed.
I mean, we obviously schematically shifted to try to play a little bit differently with Justin than Russ, but the operation never
changed. So, whatever the fantastical narrative was that we're just calling plays at the line, I don't know the history of the
reference. I just know what we did in Pittsburgh in '24, and our issue at the end of the year was we weren't good enough.
Alan Saunders and Brendan Howe provided reporting from Pittsburgh.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers OC Arthur Smith Denies There Was Tension with Russell Wilson: 'Fantastical Narrative'
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