Mike McCarthy is evolving the West Coast system for the Pittsburgh Steelers, forcing a veteran quarterback to master precise timing and modern tactics in his final postseason quest.
The Pittsburgh Steelers signed Rico Dowdle with the intention of splitting carries between him and fellow running back Jaylen Warren.
The Steelers want to keep the legs of their running backs fresh, as head coach Mike McCarthy plans to have a robust rushing attack this season.
While the running game will have its importance for Pittsburgh, the offense will live and die by the arm of Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers, 42, will battle Father Time to help the Steelers make a postseason run in his final season in the league.
Rodgers told Chris Adamski of triblive.com that the Steelers plan to run an advanced version of the West Coast offense former head coach Bill Walsh perfected with the San Francisco 49ers. The offense will depend on Rodgers' ability to time each play.
“It’s just the next generations of the West Coast offense,” Rodgers said. “It went kind of Bill Walsh to kind of what Mike was doing with Paul Hackett, and then it’s kind of grown from there.
“From a real fundamental level, it’s all about the quarterback’s timing.”
Rodgers suggested that he's familiar with some of the concepts of the offense, as he ran it when McCarthy was the the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. However, Rodgers noted McCarthy tweaked a few things when he was with the Dallas Cowboys. Some of the terminology has changed as well.
McCarthy hasn't changed his beliefs on how to run an offense in the league. But he has changed some of his tactics to run a more modern offense in Pittsburgh.
“You have core beliefs, which established during those early years, and then off of those come variations,” McCarthy said. “You look at pro football, (there are) a lot of similar plays, a lot of similar schemes, but everybody runs them a little differently.”
The offense will be somewhat familiar for Rodgers, which should make the transition at head coach mostly seamless for that side of the ball during training camp.
How far Pittsburgh goes in the regular season will depend on how much has Rodgers has left in the tank.
