The Pittsburgh Steelers, two weeks into the year, have staged an offense ranked 26th in points and 31st in yards among the 32 NFL teams. Pittsburgh has the worst expected points added per play of any of the 32 teams in the league. Somehow, Kenny Pickett looks worse this year than he did last year after showing gradual improvements in his rookie season.
How is Pittsburgh taking the highest-floor quarterback in the 2022 NFL Draft and somehow pushing his floor lower and lower? All signs point to Matt Canada, who failed deeply as an offensive coordinator the last two seasons. The Steelers, since 2021 when Canada took over as OC, have the sixth-worst success rate on offense.
Instead of firing Canada this offseason, the Steelers retained him. Instead of addressing another start of ineptitude on the offensive end, the Steelers have more or less ignored issues and refused to take accountability for his employment.
Firing him might be harsh, but fans would love to hear head coach Mike Tomlin or Canada himself address the elephant in the room: That the results have been bad, and it's in large part due to Canada's poor play calling and coordination.
Finally, the Steelers did make a move on Sunday ahead of Week 3. Just not the one fans wanted.
Steelers give Matt Canada a promotion rather than a demotion, and nothing makes sense in Pittsburgh
The Pittsburgh Steelers, according to Jordan Schultz, have given Canada a, "more prominent role," where he will work more closely with Kenny Pickett.
As Schultz reports, Canada's offensive coordinator role remains unchanged. He is still calling plays, and this new slate of responsibilities is an addition to his current role, not in place of anything. It's interesting, and perhaps an indictment on Mike Sullivan, the quarterbacks coach. Why is Canada, who has taken the public's brunt of the assigned blame for Pickett's struggles, getting more of a role with Pickett when that is presumably Sullivan's job?
No such reporting or comments have indicated there are any concerns with Sullivan's job, however, the results speak for themselves. Pickett has a higher interception and sack rate so far this year than last and is the worst quarterback in terms of adjusted EPA per play. That dead-last designation may be more of an indictment on play calling, as Pickett is only ninth-worst in completion percent over expected and fourth-worst in success rate.
Regardless of what coach Pickett's struggles fall on, one thing is clear: The current leadership is not drawing the best results out of the players. Giving any coach a promotion of sorts at this stage feels entirely misguided.
One advantage is it will make diagnosing the team's struggling offense easier. Canada's hands will be everywhere, now, so there is one more data point suggesting Canada is the issue if the Steelers continue to struggle.
Of course, if Pickett turns on the jets in the weeks following this announcement, it would do wonders for Canada's reputation with the fanbase.
