The Pittsburgh Steelers made an uncharacteristic move during the 2023 NFL season by firing a coach during the middle of the year. They chose to relieve former Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada of his duties following the team's Week 11 loss to the Cleveland Browns in which the offense only scored 10 points. This firing came after years of horrible offensive play, and Canada's offenses were always near the bottom of the league in every major statistical category. One former Steelers offensive lineman came out in defense of Canada, and said that it was good for him to be fired.
Former Steelers Offensive Coordinator Defended By Dee Gray
Derwin "Dee" Gray is a former offensive lineman for the Steelers who they drafted in the seventh-round of the 2019 NFL Draft out of Maryland. He spent the entire 2019 season with Pittsburgh, as well as most of the 2020 season before being waived in December. He was never in Pittsburgh while Canada had the role of offensive coordinator, but Canada was the quarterback coach in 2020 while Gray was on the team.
Gray and Canada were also together at Maryland in 2018 where Canada started the season as the offensive coordinator and the quarterbacks coach, but wound up taking on the role of interim head coach once the actual coach was put on administrative leave. Gray now hosts a podcast, where he spoke with current Steelers offensive lineman Spencer Anderson about the Canada firing. Obviously, Gray was defensive about his former college coach being let go.
"I ain't going to lie to you, I was sad for the man, but I was more so happy for him. All year, I've been talking about this, and I went on Twitter Spaces before and people were talking so crazy about Canada dog. I was like bruh, man the s**t he does works man, it's just that you're playing against better talent man. Sometimes certain plays ain't going to work, but then it busts out for a big run."
The bias from Gray is glaring here. Obviously he has a wealth of football knowledge from his experience in the league, but the numbers about Canada's offense don't lie. It did not work. That's not just because of the talent on the offensive side of the ball. The offense didn't work with Ben Roethlisberger, Mitch Trubisky, or Kenny Pickett. It's a failed offense that doesn't work in the NFL.
Anderson was trying to play the middle ground, not fully agreeing with Gray, or fully disagreeing. Anderson was also a player under Canada at Maryland in 2018, and had some experience in the NFL with Canada as a coach throughout the 2023 season.
Gray went on to rant about Canada and how him being fired is good for his own well-being.
"I was happy for him and I told people in the Twitter Spaces man, to be honest, I can't wait till he gets fired or he gets outta there for his own well-being man. He take more s**t from fans than he do from his own players or the people that he works for. I mean it's crazy. But I mean y'all [fans] think y'all know it all when y'all really don't know the game of ball."
Fans might not have the experience at the professional level of football like Gray might to understand everything about the complicated offenses and defenses that are run in the NFL. But that's the thing, Canada's offense wasn't complicated and it didn't work on a consistent basis. It was predictable. There was a point in time during the 2023 season where the Steelers offense ran the ball 90 percent of the time when the quarterback was under center, and passed 82 percent of the time when they lined up in shotgun. It doesn't get more predictable then that, and it shows Canada was clearly not ready for a job calling plays in the league.
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