Steelers Film Room: Who the heck is Ben Skowronek?

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Skowronek doesn’t find himself in the box score often, but he’s made a career doing the dirty work on Sundays.

Whenever the Steelers are widely televised or in primetime, I tend to get more friends messaging me about the game. That was especially true this week. This particular Steelers-Ravens game had a little more juice than some of their more recent matchups. The Steelers haven’t been true contenders the past few years, but despite that, the wins in this rivalry have been lopsided in their favor. A large part of that, we were told, was because the Steelers have seen very little of Lamar Jackson in his career. He’d only faced the Steelers four times, and even though he’d gone 1-3 in those starts, he’s also inarguably improved each year as a pro. This time there was no fluke illness or injury. The game was too early in the calendar for anyone to be resting for the playoffs. With both teams facing a difficult schedule ahead, for the first time in years, this game felt like it could shape what January looks like in the AFC.

This week’s film room started with a simple exchange, but ties into a bigger point on how the Steelers beat the Ravens. On the first play of the Steelers’ second drive, I couldn’t help but notice an old favorite of any film nerds who have watched tape of the Sean McVay offense: Ben Skowronek.

Skowronek is a wide receiver, but what makes him notable is how little of his best work is done out wide or receiving the ball. No, Skowronek is your classic lunch pail guy. He’s a unique skillset in an unusual package. Skowronek has spent time on injured reserve this year and only just returned to action last week in Washington. I’ll admit, he didn’t catch my eye much in that game, but what made me sit up and pay attention to him this week was the following play, when the 6’3, 224-pound receiver lined up as a fullback and ran into the teeth of the defense as a lead blocker.

Shortly after, I received messages from a handful of friends that all essentially asked, “Who the heck is 15?” The answer? A guy who may not fill up the stat sheet, but one a coaching staff loves to have around because of all the dirty work he’ll unselfishly do for a team. Skowronek also plays on special teams, but we’ll stick to offense for this article.

Heading into the matchup, a common refrain was that the Steelers’ offense and the Ravens’ defense presented an intriguing test of strength-versus-strength (Steelers’ run game, Ravens’ rush defense) and weakness-versus-weakness (Steelers’ passing attack, Ravens’ pass defense). The Steelers needed a big game on the ground if they wanted to win, not only because they always want to out-physical the Ravens, but because it would be important to win the time of possession battle and keep Baltimore’s dangerous offense on the sideline as much as possible. Baltimore’s defense led the league with an average of only 73.0 rushing yards allowed per game. The Steelers wound up with 122 rushing yards Sunday and won the time of possession battle 36:22-23:38, keeping the Ravens well below their season average (30:10). One of the unsung heroes behind the Steelers’ success was Ben Skowronek.

One of the keys to understanding Arthur Smith’s offense is that he is a fan of tight formations, and running several plays off of similar formations and pre-snap motions. He will hit them again, and again, and again because the key is keeping the defense off balance. If the defense has seen the offense run in multiple directions, use play action, or outright pass all out of the same look, the hope is that will create moments of hesitation, busted assignments, unexpected blockers, or some combination of the three. Understanding that is crucial to examining how the Steelers offense functions.

I’m not sure if this was a Ravens-specific focus, or if he’ll be a crucial part of the running game moving forward, but Skowronek was clearly Arthur Smith’s muse this week. As we look at the next two plays, we can see Arthur Smith establishing a pattern, but tweaking the details of Skowronek’s assignment from play-to-play. In the first play below, Skowronek really only functions as a decoy, with little to do post-snap as the play is running the opposite direction from him. However, Skowronek running to Darnell Washington’s side of the formation would be a key wrinkle on several runs in this game, just like in the second play below where the two combine to wipe out the edge Baltimore was attempting to set.

To truly keep a defense guessing, though. It’s important to show variety. Skowronek has been motioning all game, but Smith makes sure the Ravens see him run routes out of the look as well. On this one, the play ultimately isn’t successful, but seeing the Steelers run a play action out of this look gives the Ravens one more thing to think about. You’d like to see the Steelers execute better on this play, but you rarely win every battle in the NFL.

While Smith will use certain formations repeatedly, he isn’t just a one-trick pony. He puts his players in similar positions, but there’s no eye-dressing with Skowronek on this one. This was his lone catch and target of the game. It may not seem like anything special, but you still like to see a receiver make the catch when they’re targeted, and it set up a 3rd & manageable for the Steelers.

During an important drive at the end of the third quarter, Skowronek’s usage played an important part of the sequencing of three consecutive plays near midfield. Up 12-10, the Steelers motion Skowronek to Washington’s side of the formation, this time having him get set before snapping the ball and running a toss left. It isn’t a huge gain, but it puts into the defense’s mind that the Steelers are running to the side Skowronek is motioning to.

That comes into play on the very next play. On 2nd & 7, the Steelers get maybe a little too cute here with a play action followed by a screen, but they pull it off. A big reason why is how the defense reacts to Skowronek’s motion. Watch the linebackers take a false step to their right as Skowronek runs right-to-left. It might seem like a small detail, but that buys Pittsburgh space and time on the screen play. Warren does a good job setting up his blockers as well, but every little detail counts, especially in Steelers-Ravens.

After converting the first down on the screen play, the Steelers flip it and this time have Skowronek motioning from left-to-right. This might be his best rep of the day as he impacts two defenders on this five-yard gain for Warren.

The Steelers deploy Skowronek as a blocker in different looks as well. Later in the fourth quarter, the Steelers have him line up outside big Mike Williams acting as the tip of the spear in this stack. At the snap, Skowronek pulls inside, pulling the corner into Williams and allowing Skowronek to climb and pick up the safety. With the Steelers’ right side successfully walling off the Ravens’ defense, Warren has an easy cutback lane for a nine-yard gain.

Time will tell if the Steelers plan to make Skowronek an integral part of their running game or if they thought he was best suited for the role against the Ravens. Considering his time with the Rams — who also use a lot of condensed formations, pre-snap motion, and had given him unique blocking assignments — Skowronek had plenty of experience working in a similar role.

We’ll leave with one more Skowronek clip. It’s important to take the time to enjoy the silly moments in this game we love. With the benefit of knowing the Steelers managed the win, enjoy watching Skowronek serve as the avatar of every single Steelers fan when Justin Field slid before the sticks at the end of the game.