Randy Fichtner Must Shoulder Some Blame for Steelers Terrible Offense

The Pittsburgh Steelers were a disaster on offense Sunday against the New York Jets. The team managed 10 points, matching the total from the week before as another great defensive performance was wasted.

The team is obviously shorthanded with Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges sharing the quarterback duties. Yet one person who needs to take some blame as well is offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner.

Fichtner has been criticized all season by Steelers fans for having his young quarterbacks throw too much and for Wildcat plays that don't lead to much success.

Sunday's game saw Rudolph and Hodges combine to throw 37 passes. No running back had more than seven carries in a game that was tied 10-10 at halftime. One week prior against the Bills, Hodges threw 38 passes, four of which were intercepted, while the team had 14 total rushes. That was in a 17-10 loss that saw Buffalo score 10 points in the fourth quarter.

Fichtner may be putting too much faith in his young quarterbacks instead of pounding the ball on the ground with Jaylen Samuels, Benny Snell, and a healthy James Conner.

The easy excuse is that the team doesn't have Ben Roethlisberger, Le'Veon Bell, or Antonio Brown. Conner and JuJu Smith-Schuster have dealt with injuries and there is inexperience all over the offense. The counter to that is that Hodges and Rudolph have shown flashes of success and the defense has kept the team in every game.

Fichtner has a tough job, but he's been fairly incompetent at it this season.