In Defense Of Matt Canada
Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The home stretch of the 2022 NFL season was bittersweet for the Pittsburgh Steelers and their fanbase. The team was trending upward for the latter half of the season, but it didn’t amount to much. Of course, anything short of a Super Bowl can be deemed a failure for a franchise with a winning history, but failing to make the playoffs and coming in third in the division was undoubtedly below expectations.
The offense’s red-zone struggles and their inability to capitalize on the defense’s league-leading interception tally caused frustration throughout the locker room. Dionte Johnson didn’t record a single touchdown, Najee Harris’ early performance was lackluster, and the Pickett-Trubisky teeter-totter was perilously wobbly.
When it came time to assign blame, the team’s shortcomings were mostly pinned to the ineffective playbook and poor execution by every Yinzer’s favorite guy, Matt Canada. Canada is an easy target due to his lack of pedigree and the product he was putting out on Sundays (and Mondays, and that one terrible Thursday). There was a chorus calling for Canada’s dismissal before most folks had put up their Christmas lights, and it seemed to be given that Canada would be packing his bags within 24 hours of the season’s end.
But it never happened. Canada remains in the captain’s chair of the offense — and that might be a good thing.
To be fair, wishing Canada good riddance is a logical reaction. But reactionary organizations rarely create consistent success.
The Steelers have had a front-row seat to an unstable, reactionary team that operates a mere 130 miles to the northeast in Cleveland. The Browns have had 11 head coaches, 12 offensive coordinators, and a whopping 34 quarterbacks since 2000. This is flawed thinking, and the results were evident. The Browns struggled throughout many of those years, and few of the quarterbacks were able to develop in their constantly shifting system. Some have hung around the league as backups, like Brian Hoyer and Baker Mayfield, but an inexcusably number of high draft picks made a quick exit.
Yes, it’s a luxury to be a team like the Steelers with such stability and historical success, but that’s not a fluke, it’s by design. Creating a culture in the locker room is important to Mike Tomlin and the Rooneys. Just look at the types of players they draft, or the number of siblings they have signed over the years. Combine that with Andy Weidl and Omar Khan’s newly acquired offensive weapons, and it’s more than reasonable to think that last season was an anomaly, just some growing pains on the way to sustained success.
The front office has granted Kenny Pickett the opportunity to develop in a stable system and a culture of consistency. He’s not responsible for learning a completely new playbook– something that fans may themselves find frustrating – but this will free up Pickett to take steps in other areas of his game. He has worked all offseason with both his new and returning weapons. That will deepen his understanding of his offense in Week 1 when the San Francisco 49ers come to Acrisure Stadium. Good thing, considering that San Francisco boasted one of the best defenses in the league last year.
The development of an offense takes time. I’m no Matt Canada apologist, but he’s had two seasons with two different quarterbacks. Ben Roethlisberger circa 2021 certainly wasn’t at his best behind a lackluster offensive line, and Pickett didn’t even have a full season to develop. Canada has worked in a young new tight end in Pat Freiermuth and has dealt with an overhaul of the receiving corps.
This was an organization in flux – or their toned-down version of it, anyway – and in that time the Steelers drafted or signed several players to shore up holes in their offense. Scapegoat Canada all you want (you might well turn out to be correct), but it is reasonable to anticipate a significantly improved version of the 2022 offense. There’s no guarantee. Only time will tell. But at least the Steelers have decided to see things through rather than scrap the system entirely before it even has a chance to come together.
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