Former Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich has reached out to the Steelers about joining the Pittsburgh coaching staff, according to Mark Kaboly of The Athletic. Leftwich, who was fired by head coach Todd Bowles shortly after the Bucs lost to the Cowboys in Tampa Bay’s home Wild Card playoff game, has been out of work since January.
With Pittsburgh’s offense struggling mightily this season and ranked 30th in the league and averages 268.2 points per game, and Leftwich’s history and experience with the Steelers (2008, 2010-12) as a backup quarterback, it made sense for the unemployed play-caller to reach out to head coach Mike Tomlin.
Yet Leftwich’s outreach fell on deaf ears. Pittsburgh is “pretty much ignoring him,” according to Kaboly, a Steelers beat writer. Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Matt Canada has come under fire as the Steelers are averaging just 15.8 points per game, which ranks 29th in the league.
Byron Leftwich Was Fired Because Bucs Offense Plummeted In Scoring
Pewter Report was the first to report that head coach Todd Bowles was going to fire Leftwich after the playoff loss to the Cowboys. With former head coach Bruce Arians at the helm, the Bucs averaged 30 points per game in the 2020 and 2021 seasons before the scoring plummeted to just 18.2 points per game in 2022, which is when Bowles took over for Arians, who retired last offseason.
The 43-year-old Leftwich served as the team’s play-caller for four seasons and spent the last three with quarterback Tom Brady under center. Tampa Bay struggled to run the ball and wound up with the league’s worst running game, averaging 75.6 yards per game.
Leftwich had been running the Arians playbook, but without Arians around last year to make the necessary tweaks and adjustments the offense became predictable and underwhelmed – even with Brady at the helm. Before training camp Bowles asked Leftwich to think outside the box and study what other teams in the pros and in college are doing scheme-wise and incorporate some new concepts, but he failed to do so.
While technically still drawing a paycheck from the Bucs because he was under contract for the 2023 season, Leftwich did not receive much reported interest from the pro or college ranks. Leftwich was a reported finalist for the Jacksonville head coaching job in January of 2023, but the Jaguars ultimately hired Doug Pederson instead.Matt Canada Is Under Fire In Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh fans are unhappy with offensive coordinator Matt Canada, who has been criticized since the offseason. The Steelers got a much-needed 17-10 victory on Sunday over the archrival Ravens. Yet that wasn’t enough to quell the criticism aimed at the beleaguered play-caller. Pittsburgh fans in attendance at Sunday’s game still yelled “Fire Canada” at the end of the game.
Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett, who has played reasonably well despite the sluggish offense, found wide receiver George Pickens for a 41-yard touchdown with less than two minutes left to beat the Ravens, 17-10. Pittsburgh and Baltimore both have 3-2 records, but the Steelers have the head-to-head tiebreaker advantage for now.
More must-reads: