After the Pittsburgh Steelers finished their Week 2 game, it definitely felt like the sky was falling. The offense has been nonexistent while the team continues to get bullied in the trenches. Nothing has been able to go right on that side of the ball despite the fact that the defense has been greatly improved. Considering the fact that Pittsburgh has a divisional game on the road in Week 4, it feels like the upcoming contest in Week 3 is a must-win scenario, or else the hope of winning the division could be gone by October.
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Steelers' Aaron Rodgers attempts a pass during a road loss to the New England Patriots in 2026.
Head Coach Mike McCarthy was touted as an offensive mastermind that could get this struggling unit playing well in the modern game. So far, his offense has looked like the exact opposite, as comparisons are being made to Matt Canada's awful tenure. If he can't turn this unit around, Pittsburgh's non-losing streak may finally come to an end.
McCarthy has an obvious solution to help turn everything around. During his weekly Q&A chat, insider Ray Fittipaldo explained what the head coach needs to change.
"The running game was [god] awful," Fittipaldo said. "The fullback might be part of the answer, but so is Darnell Washington."
McCarthy has spoken extensively on the importance of the fullback position in the past, yet he has barely utilized fifth-round rookie Riley Nowakowski. He was drafted with the primary focus of improving the run game, but he can't do that from the bench. He has only been on the field for 10 total offensive snaps through two weeks. That needs to change immediately.
This is especially the case since the offensive line has not been able to do its job so far. McCarthy wants to establish the run game, but it's hard to do so when the running backs are getting creamed behind the line of scrimmage. Clearly, the answer is to put more blockers on the field until the big men in the trenches can figure everything out and start playing better.
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Pittsburgh Steelers fullback Riley Nowakowski (37) during 2026 training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA.
On top of that, having those bigger sets with Nowakowski in the game will likely help with the play-action game too, as it really helps to sell the run while having an extra body in the backfield to block for the quarterback on a long-developing play like this. The fact that he is only being used as a special teamer is wild, since he was drafted to help a facet of play that is struggling hard.
Steelers Have More Ways To Help Offense
As Fittipaldo also mentioned, the other obvious option is to have big tight end "Mount" Darnell Washington on the field more often. There may not be another tight end in the NFL that can block as well as he can. He could be used to seal the edge and help the running backs bounce outside, or at least not let the edge rushers get a free shot at the ball-carrier behind the line of scrimmage.
Even though McCarthy has spoken a lot about how he prioritizes the fullback position, he has not used a lot of big personnel groupings through two weeks. He prefers to spread out with three wide receivers to try and be more explosive in the pass game. At this point, the best thing he could do is get out of his comfort zone and put these bigger bodies like Nowakowski and Washington on the field more often.
In 2025, the Steelers played their best offensive football when they were in these big sets. While they rarely utilized a fullback, they would still put an extra lineman in the game and line him up between an offensive tackle and Washington. That created more rushing lanes for the running backs while selling the play action more and keeping Aaron Rodgers on his feet.
What do you think about Nowakowski barely playing despite the need for more blocking? Let us know on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.
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