Tag: Charlie Batch

Ex-Steelers QB Charlie Batch takes issue with OC Matt Canada

Count Charlie Batch among those who are less than thrilled that the team appears likely to retain offensive coordinator Matt Canada. 

The Pittsburgh Steelers 2021 offense was a total and utter disaster, and by the sound of it, the guy who ran it will be given a chance to redeem himself.

Count former Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch among those who are less than thrilled that the team appears likely to retain offensive coordinator Matt Canada.

“This is just kind of where I’m at; I don’t like this offense, I don’t like cutting half of the field off, but hey, this is what is it, and we’ve seen exactly what this offense is capable of doing,” Batch told 93.7 The Fan Morning Show on Friday.

“I just don’t see us not advancing, and now saying miraculously this offensive is going to go from the bottom of the league to the top of the league, I just don’t see it happening.”

Batch believes that the Steelers won’t part ways with Canada, especially if years remain on his contract.

“[Art Rooney II is] not going to pay him to sit at home, so if he has years on [his contract], Matt’s going to be back,” Batch said.

According to Mark Kaboly of The Athletic, Canada’s contract situation is unknown since he was promoted (from quarterbacks coach) and not an external hire. Coordinators have gotten three-year contracts, while position coaches have gotten two years.

As dreadful as the Steelers run game was in 2021 (29th), it slightly improved over 2020’s last-ranked ground attack.

That nowhere near makes up for the fact that Pittsburgh was far worse in at least 10 other offensive categories like scoring (34 touchdowns compared to 50), points per game (20.2 to 26), yards per game (315.4 to 334.6) and third-down percentage (38.9 to 42.2).

While there were promises of an exciting and creative offensive scheme, it never materialized. It appeared that Canada didn’t switch things up much at all from the failed Randy Fichtner offense. It could have to do with the fact that to pull off what Canada wants requires a mobile quarterback — unfortunately for the Steelers, there’s not one currently on the roster.

Can Canada learn from his mistakes with a new (mobile) quarterback running his offense in the 2022 season? We shall see.

[vertical-gallery id=508766]

[listicle id=508710]

Million-dollar question: Would Oklahoma QB Caleb Williams transfer to Eastern Michigan?

Former NFL QB Charlie Batch has put an incredible NIL offer out to Oklahoma’s Caleb Williams

Former NFL quarterback Charlie Batch is in the financial world now. And he is looking to be part of a deal that would transfer $1 million to Caleb Williams … if the Oklahoma QB transfers to Eastern Michigan for one season.

Talk about an offer that appears too good to refuse.

Williams starred for the Sooners after replacing preseason Heisman favorite Spencer Rattler at QB.

This week, however, he enteried the transfer portal but would consider remaining a Sooner.

Temptation landed on Twitter through Batch’s verified account. Batch starred at Eastern Michigan in college and played for the Detroit Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers.

Batch makes different decisions currently, as the senior vice president of strategic investments for CapStone Holdings, which is the parent company of GameAbove Capital.

And the offer is out there … $1 million for one year at Eastern Michigan.

Per the Detroit Free Press:

According to the CapStone Holdings website, Batch serves as senior vice president of strategic investments for the firm. CapStone is the parent company forGameAbove, which helps Eagles student-athletes as well as EMU educational programs.

GameAbove recently entered into a naming rights deal with EMU — which also honored famed Eagles basketball player George Gervin — turning the EMU Convocation Center into the George Gervin GameAbove Center.

2020 NFL Draft: The case for drafting a quarterback

Here is why the Pittsburgh Steelers should absolutely draft a QB in April.

Steelers.com writer Bob Labriola has repeatedly stated that the Steelers are not going to select a quarterback in the 2020 NFL draft.

To that, I say — WHY NOT?!

Let’s take a trip back in time to the seasons in which the Steelers were searching for their future at the QB position.

The 1980s was a forgettable decade for the black and gold. The Steel Curtain unraveled, and after Bradshaw retired, they endured seasons of 7-9, 6-10, and 5-11; overall, failing to win the division eight out of those 10 seasons.

The Steelers also passed on future Hall of Famer and hometown hero Dan Marino in the 1983 draft. Instead, they selected Gabriel Rivera, a nose tackle who played in six games (no starts) and was later paralyzed in a car accident never to play football again.

There was a 20-year span between franchise QBs Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger in which the Steelers had eight different signal-callers.

The ’90s showed some improvement, but the QBs chosen to direct the Steelers’ offenses were manageable and not franchise-worthy. The ultimate goal of every NFL team is to not only represent their division in the battle royale but to hoist the Lombardi trophy.

During that eight-quarterback stretch referenced above, the only one to help lead the Steelers to a Super Bowl was O’Donnell in the 1995 Super Bowl versus the Dallas Cowboys.

In the latter part of that decade, offenses were bottom of the barrel in points scored, and defenses couldn’t get off the field.

It took 20 years, four QBs drafted, four QBs acquired, and a lot of losing seasons before the Steelers hit the jackpot with Roethlisberger in 2004.

You can’t really count Omar Jacobs (2006), Dennis Dixon (2008), or Landry Jones (2013) as attempts to draft Roethlisberger’s heir apparent. Roethlisberger and the Steelers both debunked the late ’13 rumors of a trade. He was nowhere near retirement, either. The Steelers quest perhaps legitimately started with drafting Joshua Dobbs in 2017 and Mason Rudolph in 2018. And we know what happened with Dobbs.

This is not to say that with further development, Rudolph can’t help the Steelers along after Roethlisberger retires. But it would only be a band-aid on a wound — he’s not likely to be the guy for the next 10-15 years.

This is not to say that should the Steelers draft a QB in the second or third rounds that he will automatically be the post-Roethlisberger answer, either. But as they’ve seen with the QBs drafted in recent years, they won’t know until they try.

Roethlisberger’s contract runs through the 2021 season. Even if he can bounce back from injury, who knows how much longer he’ll play. Starting with April’s draft, it’s time the Steelers seriously think about the future, or there could be another 20-year drought.

[vertical-gallery id=460470]

[lawrence-related id=461192]