The Pittsburgh Steelers had a lot of excitement surrounding them coming into the 2023 NFL regular season, and it looked like they had some sure-fire breakout players on their hands like Kenny Pickett and George Pickens. However, the offense has gotten off to a less than ideal start. They are near the bottom of the league in all relevant major offensive statistics, and a lot of the blame is being thrust at Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada. Peter Schrager, a NFL analyst for Good Morning Football, suggests that the team has much bigger problems.
Steelers Have Larger Problems Than Canada's Play-Calling
Canada was promoted to the role of offensive coordinator prior to the 2021 NFL season, after having spent one season as the team's quarterback coach in 2020. In his first year as offensive coordinator, the Steelers made the playoffs, but did not put up any electrifying numbers offensively. Canada faced some scrutiny, but a lot of the reasoning for the lackluster offensive season was due to having an aging quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger who couldn't throw the ball downfield like he used to.
In 2022, Canada received a lot of blame for the offense's struggles, despite having inconsistent quarterback play from Mitch Trubisky and Pickett in his rookie year. Once the team turned it around later in the year and Pickett began playing a lot better, some began to think Canada wasn't as bad as everyone had originally thought. Pair that with an impressive preseason in 2023, and the hopes were high for the offense. So far, it has been a disaster. Both fans and members of NFL media have been begging for Canada to be fired, but Schrager thinks the Steelers have bigger issues than that.
"He gets the job in 2021 and there was excitement for Ben's last year, they went to the playoffs. Last year, there was excitement after Pickett had a good finish. And then it falls off a cliff. I know Matt Canada didn't suddenly forget how to call an offense or use his best players."
Schrager has faith in Canada, and thinks the blame shouldn't entirely be put on him. However, it's hard not to blame someone who is calling one of the worst offenses in the NFL. In both of the Steelers losses in the 2023 season, the offense has scored just seven points and then six points. That isn't winning football.
Schrager spoke about how he was worried about what Head Coach Mike Tomlin said in his press conference on Tuesday. Tomlin spoke about the team's lack of physicality, and how they were getting outplayed at the line of scrimmage by the Houston Texans.
"That's not Steelers football. So they're getting beat up. The Texans were down four offensive linemen, had a rookie quarterback, and they went up and down on that Steelers defense. There's something else going on that needs to be fixed now, whether it's Kenny Pickett or Mitch Trubisky or something, it's not too late, you're still 2-2."
It's clear the Steelers need to get more physical, and being outplayed by the Texans who were so beat up on their offensive line is a major issue. Tomlin mentioned in his press conference that the team would be practicing in pads in hopes to up the physicality, but hopefully some other changes will be made to help this team get to where it needs to be.
Schrager had comments about both Pickett and Trubisky as if there was some sort of quarterback controversy within the Steelers organization. Tomlin has not once said the team might be looking at Trubisky to be the starter moving forward. It's extremely difficult to evaluate Pickett and see his potential with the lack of offensive success the Steelers have seen so far this season. He has been getting no protection, and the play-calling has been questionable at best.
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