Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada denies having burner social media account

A bizarre subplot to the Pittsburgh Steelers' offensive struggles has been the week-long rumor in Pittsburgh that offensive coordinator Matt Canada created a burner account on social media to defend himself against fan criticism.

Normally, that is the type of thing that would just get swept under the rug and dismissed as ridiculous, but Canada was actually asked about it during his weekly meeting with the media on Thursday. So here we are talking about it. 

Naturally, he denied that it was him being the poster by simply saying "no" when asked if he was behind the account. 

The background on this saga begins with fans noticing an account on social media by the name of DannyFootball77 that followed no one, offered no original Tweets and only responded to people who were criticizing Canada's play-calling and offensive scheme. There was even an attempt to connect the email address associated with the account to a Steelers email address. That was quickly debunked, as the addresses did not match the format of NFL emails. 

It is not completely unheard of for somebody in professional sports to have a burner account to defend themselves or criticize teammates or players. The most notable situation involved Bryan Colangelo and the Philadelphia 76ers. 

In most cases, though, it is probably fans grasping at straws trying to find something scandalous to make themselves feel better about a struggling team or coach. Or is it a fan intentionally creating an account and making it look like it is a burner for somebody else. 

In the end, Canada and the Steelers have much bigger things to worry about. Like an offense that has managed only four touchdowns in four games and is facing a huge first-place game with the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday afternoon.