“We’re not scoring enough points. I said it last week, I’m not running from it. Splash plays do that; lack of mental mistakes and execution mistakes and assignment mistakes and all those things do that too. The more splash plays you have, the less of those things can happen.”
That’s what much-maligned Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada said this week leading up to his team’s game against the undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers. Canada has been bashed for his unimaginative offense this season, and rightly so, though the quarterbacks he’s had to work with haven’t always helped. Mitch Trubisky is… well, Mitch Trubisky, and first-round rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett is still finding his feet.
So, when the Steelers went down 7-0 on this amazing A.J. Brown catch, Canada knew he’d better come up with something to put balance on the scoreboard.
So, with 1:57 left in the first quarter, with the ball at the Philadelphia one-yard line, the answer on fourth-and-goal was Picktt handing off to receiver Chase Claypool, and Claypool throwing a wide-open touchdown to fullback Derek Watt. A left-handed touchdown, for good measure!
Matt Canada?? Matt Canada!!
— Matt Verderame (@MattVerderame) October 30, 2022
The Steelers will need more than the back pages of the playbook to hang with the Eagles, but this represented a nice start.