Browns fans rejoice as Steelers retain Matt Canada as offensive coordinator

Bringing joy to those in Cleveland, the Steelers will retain their offensive coordinator.

The Cleveland Browns rivals in Pittsburgh have decided to retain offensive coordinator Matt Canada. Canada hasn’t had a lot of success so far in Pittsburgh with his offenses ranking 21st and 26th in points scored in 2021 and 2022. Browns fans should be happy with this development and what it means for Cleveland in 2023.

The offense Canada has run has been bland, not very creative, and relatively predictable. Some in Pittsburgh are not happy with the move and what it means long-term for Kenny Pickett. It will be interesting to see if things change for the better in 2023. But for now, Browns fans should be happy with this announcement.

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Can the Saints defense shake back against the NFL’s least-explosive offense?

Can the Saints defense shake back against the NFL’s least-explosive offense? Steelers OC Matt Canada hasn’t found much success on the year so far:

We’re just two weeks removed from the New Orleans Saints’ shutout win against the Las Vegas Raiders, but a brutal double-digit loss to the Baltimore Ravens has made that highlight seem like it’s a million miles away. If the Saints are going to shake back with another win, though, this week’s matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers might be their best shot.

The Steelers offense hasn’t found much success on the season so far. They’ve scored the fewest points in the NFL (120, across 8 games) and are tied for the lowest rate of yards gained per play (4.7). Rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett is the league’s most turnover-prone quarterback. They’re tied for the sixth-worst conversion rate on third downs (33.6%). Pittsburgh ranks fifth-lowest in red zone conversions, too, having scored a touchdown on just 10 of their 21 trips inside the opposing 20-yard line (47.6%).

Much of the blame falls on play caller Matt Canada, the former LSU Tigers offensive coordinator, who hasn’t exactly gotten the most out of his personnel. Pickett hasn’t been an upgrade over Mitchell Trubisky. Najee Harris has regressed at running back, averaging a mere 3.3 yards per carry, with his backup Jaylen Warren outproducing him at 5.3 yards per attempt (though he’s seeing just 3.6 rushes per game).

Both of their leading receivers in targets, Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool (who was recently traded away), have clocked fewer than 10 yards per reception. Tight end Pat Freiermuth leads the team in receiving yards per game (52.4). Wide receiver George Pickens has been their best big-play threat with 7 receptions of 20-plus yards, and he figures to have a bigger role after the Claypool trade, but he’s only seen 5.4 targets per game.

It almost feels like we’re risking a jinx in pointing this out, but the Steelers offense hasn’t been a threat to score from the open field. Their longest scoring play on the season traveled just 8 yards, the shortest of any NFL team; the Los Angeles Chargers are next-worst, with their longest scoring play traveling 23 yards. If the Saints defense can win at the line of scrimmage and guard the Steelers’ big-play attempts as well as every other team to play them this year, it should mean a win for New Orleans. Hopefully they can meet those expectations while the Saints offense does its part.

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Steelers OC Matt Canada calls a trick play for surprising Steelers touchdown

Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada went deep into his trick bag for Pittsburgh’s opening touchdown against the Eagles.

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!

The Steelers will need more than the back pages of the playbook to hang with the Eagles, but this represented a nice start.

TNF Preview: Steelers’ nonexistent deep passing game needs to show up

If Mitch Trubisky can’t beat the Browns with the deep ball on Thursday night, is it time to see if Kenny Pickett can?

Through the first two weeks of the 2022 NFL season, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mitch Trubisky has attempted 10 passes of 20 or more air yards. That ties him with Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa for fourth-most in the league. But while Tagovailoa has completed six of those 10 deep passes for 204 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception, scalding the Baltimore Ravens’ to an historic degree last Sunday, Trubisjy has very little to show for it when he airs it out. Pittsburgh’s current starting quarterback has completed just three of his deep passes for 74 yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions.

It has been a concern for all involved.

“I like to throw the ball down the field,” Trubisky said on Tuesday, as he prepared to face the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night. “Why I haven’t, given the certain looks especially early in the game, I couldn’t tell you exactly why. But we’re looking for that and I’m looking for that. I like to throw the ball down the field. I think every quarterback deep down in their heart likes to throw the ball as far as they can down the football field and watch their playmakers go up and get it. So, we’re looking for that and we’ve got to look for the right opportunity and right timing. It’s just having that aggressive mindset and coming down with those plays. We want to throw the ball down the yard, but we’ve got to be smart about it and it’s all about completing it.”

The day before, head coach Mike Tomlin was asked whether Trubisky should take more shots downfield.

“I think he could, and we could.”

Offensive coordinator Matt Canada, the source of a lot of recent fan frustration, responded on Tuesday to Tomlin’s brief assessment.

“Obviously, there’s opportunities down the field that we’ve got to make,” Canada said. “I think Coach said the same thing, but I’m not going to stand up here and go through play-by-play what happened and all those things. ’We’ is me and us as a staff, and we’ll take it all and we’re going to keep getting Mitch in a position to make plays. We have to do that. We’ll continue to do that until we win.”

Not much will happen otherwise, and there are several reasons why the Steelers should be airing it out with more frequency and efficiency when they take the field tonight.

Steelers insider: Art Rooney II could overrule Mike Tomlin on retaining OC Matt Canada

The Steelers could take the Bruce Arians route with OC Matt Canada.

Mike Tomlin is optimistic about offensive coordinator Matt Canada’s ability to run the Pittsburgh Steelers offense going forward. But is team president/owner Art Rooney II?

That’s who Canada’s future in Pittsburgh could depend on, according to Steelers insider Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

And Dulac uses the Bruce Arians precedent as an example of Rooney’s power over who stays and who doesn’t in Pittsburgh.

All of that went down in 2012 — three Arians head coach gigs ago — so let’s recap.

  • The day after his team got Tim Tebow’ed in the 2011 wild card round, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin declared that Arians would remain in his role as offensive coordinator.
  • Two weeks later, Tomlin made the following statement: “Bruce Arians has informed me that he will retire from coaching. I appreciate his efforts over the past five years as the team’s offensive coordinator and for helping lead our offense to new heights during his time with the Steelers. I am grateful to Bruce for contributing to our success and wish him nothing but the best in his retirement.”
  • Later that same week, it was revealed that the Steelers forced Arians to retire by not renewing his contract.
  • Eight days after the Steelers announced Arians’ retirement, he joined the Colts as offensive coordinator and, soon, interim head coach.

While Tomlin swore up and down that he made the call on Arians and not Rooney, it’s clear that the final decision was ultimately Rooney’s.

Dulac believes that Rooney could pull rank again and show Canada the door.

In a January 21 chat, Dulac reminded Steelers fans (on two occasions) that Rooney stepped in to give Arians the old heave-ho when Tomlin — and Ben Roethlisberger — wanted the coordinator to remain in Pittsburgh.

Blame Canada or blame the personnel, the offensive scheme was severely flawed in 2021. How the Pittsburgh Steelers attempt to recover will undoubtedly be the most-watched storyline of the offseason.

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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.

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Steelers HC Mike Tomlin ‘optimistic’ about OC Matt Canada

Much to the dismay of Steelers Nation, offensive coordinator Matt Canada is not going anywhere — at least not by the sounds of it.

Much to the dismay of Steelers Nation, offensive coordinator Matt Canada is not going anywhere — at least not by the sounds of it.

Head coach Mike Tomlin discussed the future of the Pittsburgh Steelers during his final 2021 season press conference, and Canada appears to be part of it.

“I’m optimistic about Matt and what he’s capable of doing,” Tomlin said. “I acknowledge that we took a step back.”

According to Pro Football Reference, Pittsburgh was 21st in points scored (343) in 2021 and 12th (416) in 2020 — an average of six points per game fewer.

Tomlin added there were obvious reasons for the offense’s regression but opted not to go into detail. “I’m not going to seek comfort in that,” he said pointedly.

“We’ve got to be better; we intend to be. That’s going to require a lot of planning and work — players and coaches.”

In a perfect world, the Pittsburgh Steelers would’ve improved significantly under Canada’s direction after Randy Fichtner was relieved of his duties. But given the personnel that Canada had at his disposal, it’s no surprise they didn’t.

“When you’ve got red paint, you paint your barn red,” Tomlin waxed.

That red paint was Ben Roethlisberger. An offense is only as good as its quarterback, and Roethlisberger’s capabilities severely limited Canada’s options.

As questionable as many of Canada’s calls were this season, he deserves a chance to show what he can do with a young(er) quarterback at the helm.

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The Bengals put the Steelers’ embarrassing flaws on display

The Steelers have failed to address their issues and continue to be exposed by opponents as a team that just isn’t good.

The wheels have officially fallen off the Pittsburgh Steelers’ wagon. There isn’t much going right for this team, and that’s putting it mildly. All of their issues came to a head on Sunday as they were absolutely routed by division rival Cincinnati Bengals. This peak of embarrassment came on the heels of a string of embarrassing games, all compounding on one another. It seems safe to say – this is just not a good football team.

So what in the world is going on? Why, for all their issues, do they refuse to change anything?

For starters, in order to fix a problem, you have to admit you have one. And from management to the coordinator level, heads are buried deep in the sand. By all accounts they have no intention of removing them any time soon.

The Steelers have gaps at every position and in every area of play. Ranging from their porous front seven, which allowed over 100 rushing yards in the first half …

… to their anemic secondary letting Tee Higgins absolutely light them up …

… to their receivers making bone-headed plays …

… to just, well, overall lack of effort …

These are problems this team has struggled with on-and-off dating back to 2017, and after years of crossing their fingers and putting off finding a solution, it’s all come to haunt them in major ways.

Instead of addressing the weak offensive line with their remaining cap space, they let it stand. And let it crumble. They saw fit to toss a bunch of young players lacking experience on the field and allow them to be torn apart limb-from-limb. And boy, with the exception of a couple games, it has been brutal.

Instead of telling Melvin Ingram to suck it up and get on board with his role as a depth-piece (you know, the agreement they had in place when they brought him in), they obliged and traded him away, tails between their legs. And now they have no linebacker depth to speak of.

Instead of pulling Devin Bush from action until he deals with whatever has been plaguing him, coach Mike Tomlin throws him to the wolves week by week and watches his run game suffer as a result.

Instead of telling their young receivers to use diplomacy on the field and in media scrums, they let them run loose with suggestions, like one from Chase Claypool, of “playing music at practice.” The lack of self-awareness after such a defeat at the hands of a divisional opponent is…something.

Seriously. Check this out.

Wow.

For a team that prides itself on never having a losing season under its current head coach, they are well on their way to making history. This is a group who seems poised to potentially lose (or tie) the rest of their games. And as for the future of the franchise, a dark cloud is settling overhead; if the last 5 years are actually a pattern, then the next several are probably going to get even worse.

Buckle up, Steelers fans. This may not be pretty.

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Which SEC schools shell out the most dead money when firing coaches

This number is about to grow for LSU

Professional sports aren’t the only ones dealing with dead money when it comes to contracts. At the collegiate level, it happens just as often, only it applies to the coaches and not the athletes.

ESPN released a feature story on the amount of dead money spent from coaches over the last decade (2011-2020).

School Ranking Total Payouts Number of Coaches
Auburn No. 1 $31.2M 20
Ole Miss No. 4 $20.4M 51
South Carolina No. 7 $18.6M 13
LSU No. 13 $14.8M 15
Georgia No. 21 $9.6M 17
Kentucky No. 24 $8.5M 25
Florida No. 26 $8.2M 12
Alabama No. 27 $8.1M 5

Some of the top payouts include the No. 1 guy on the list Will Muschamp. He earned a total of $19.2M overall, $12.9M came from South Carolina and the remainder from Florida.

Another big payout went to Bo Pelini, who earned $10.5M in payouts. He received $6.5M from Nebraska and another $4M after his one disastrous season in Baton Rouge as the defensive coordinator.

All in all, the SEC led the list as a conference. They totaled $123.2M in payouts, a difference of almost $40M more than the Pac-12. As they say, it just means more in the SEC. In this case, it means more money.

As far as LSU is concerned, $13.7M was just for the football program. Les Miles earned $4.5M following his 2016 firing. Bo Pelini earned the $4M we mentioned. Cam Cameron earned $2.1M and Matt Canada earned $1.7M.

That number only going to grow exponentially with the $16.9M being added due to the firing of current head coach Ed Orgeron. Another reason why current athletic director Scott Woodward has to nail this hire.

Steelers OC Matt Canada calls underused James Washington: ‘A guy we freaking love’

This is how the Steelers and Matt Canada show that WR James Washington is loved.

It’s no secret that the Pittsburgh Steelers are struggling offensively. We all expected the team to turn things around with a fresh-eyed creative, innovative offensive coordinator.

Only it never happened. Perhaps that’s what the Steelers will use their bye week for?

When asked about wide receiver James Washington, who’s been buried on the depth chart for who knows why, offensive coordinator Matt Canada has this to say:

“James is certainly a guy we freaking love and know he can do a great job. He will continue to be a big part of our offense.”

That statement is bull in so many ways. When I have something I “freaking love,” you bet it’s being used; it becomes part of my routine.

And to continue to be a “big part” of something means that you already were. That simply has not been the case for James Washington. And there’s really no rhyme or reason why.

Too Many Cooks?

Are there too many cooks in the Steelers receiver kitchen? Maybe. Considering rookies Najee Harris and Pat Freiermuth, there are a lot of options. But they’re short-staffed now with JuJu Smith-Schuster gone and Washington has proved to have more talent than Ray-Ray McCloud — the guy Ben Roethlisberger came out and said will pick up the slack.

McCloud sauntered into Pittsburgh and was anointed a featured guy without batting an eyelash. He’s no more than a glorified returner where Washington is, as Steelers Wire’s own Curt Popejoy wrote, “practically a physical clone of Smith-Schuster, excels at the same routes and offers much more in terms of a complete receiver and blocker.”

Why Not?

Washington was drafted here and paid his dues in the organization and deserves a fair shot at being a featured receiver. It’s perplexing as to why he isn’t.

Is it politics —  because of his much-publicized pleas for a trade in the offseason? Certainly, we didn’t blame usually-quiet Washington then and it’s even more evident now why he did ask for a trade. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin denied it never even happened, by the way.

Maybe Pittsburgh doesn’t want to risk him getting injured in a contract year (some teams with a shred of decency do that). But it doesn’t explain his lack of usage for the bulk of his career in Pittsburgh. Washington was a second-round draft pick and has never been used as such.

2019 was a career season for Washington with 735 yards on 56 targets. That, of course, was the year Mason Rudolph attempted to fill in for the ailing Roethlisberger. Rudolph and Washington were a dynamic duo at Oklahoma State and the two did their best to recreate it in Pittsburgh (they didn’t even come close, though).

Per Pro Football Reference, in 51 games, Washington started half for an average snap percentage of 53. He’s been targeted a paltry 188 times for 1,452 yards (100 receptions) and nine touchdowns.

Let’s hope the Steelers use the bye week to figure out a way to involve James Washington more. They’d be silly not to.

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