Steelers Chalk Talk: Mike McCarthy changed his approach with the Steelers; should Patrick Graham do the same?

To get to that, let's look at what Mike McCarthy has done.

Right? Mike McCarthy came to Pittsburgh with a reputation as a, a spread offensive coordinator.

Obviously, he's the head coach, but he's also the play caller.

And in both Green Bay and Dallas, his previous stops, he was a very heavy 11 personnel coach.

He wanted three wide receivers on the field.

He wanted to spread the field.

He had the quarterbacks to do it.

He had prime Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay.

He w- he was largely responsible for developing and getting the best out of Dak Prescott down in Dallas.

And again, 11 personnel, throw the football, spread the field, et cetera.

And I th- I think he wanted to be able to employ that same strategy when he got to Pittsburgh.

And the Steelers, for the first two weeks of the 2026 season, were largely an 11 personnel team.

They were tenth, tenth in the NFL in 11 personnel frequency over the first two weeks.

They were trying to kind of make it work [coughs] with the combination of DK Metcalf, Michael Pittman, Roman Wilson, sprinkling in some of the rookie Jeromy Bernard.

Now, he has two big tight ends that he could use, and he was working those guys into the offense, but their 12 personnel usage was middle of the pack.

Mike McCarthy was determined initially to be Mike McCarthy.

He was g- as Mack Brown once famously said, "You dance with who brung you." He was gonna dance with...

But...

But f- t- were averaging eight points per game offensively.

At eight points per game over a two-week sample size, Mike McCarthy had to make a decision, and that decision revolved around, is it working? Are we gonna be the team that I thought we were going to be? There were some problems up front on the offensive line.

He made some changes there, inserting Max Ohanian and Brock Hoffman in the starting lineup.

Perhaps most importantly, Rico Dowdle got hurt, and that forced McCarthy to run the offense more through Jalen Warren.

And he did that in week three at Cincinnati, and the Steelers scored 30 points, and the offense looked like a totally different unit, and he has stuck with that recipe ever since.

And if the offense is gonna run through Jalen Warren, McCarthy has essentially said, "Well, then let's get bigger." And over the last three weeks, he has really leaned into his use of bigger personnel.

The Steelers, over the last three weeks, are eighth in the NFL in their use of 12 personnel, two tight ends.