Tag: Matt Canada

Somewhere, Matt Canada is smiling after Steelers offensive struggles

You know he is.

When the Pittsburgh Steelers put up 400-plus yards over the Cincinnati Bengals, it certainly appeared like all was right with the world — even if they didn’t score north of 16 points. Many felt like the monkey was off Pittsburgh’s back after that game, and the offense was headed in the right direction.

To be in Matt Canada‘s shoes, watching or hearing about how the Steelers’ offense had their best game outside of his two-year coordinator tenure had to be gut-wrenching.

But it all came crashing down the following week against one of the worst teams in the NFL. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, the struggles continued into the following week — only this time on a national scale.

Somewhere, Matt Canada is smiling.

It wasn’t just him, as many fans were so quick to believe. Then what is it? Well… it’s everything. There’s not one aspect of the Steelers that you can point to and say it’s working, outside of maybe special teams.

What do the Steelers do? Unfortunately, nothing can be done at this point in the season — at least not where it truly matters as it relates to the offensive and defensive game plans. We knew that after Canada was fired, but we still held out hope.

Co-coordinators Eddie Faulkner and Mike Sullivan are stuck with what they’ve got, but they’ve still failed to put successful spins on it.

Teryl Austin is calling a miserable defensive scheme, too, to allow the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots to march up and down the field at will.

And, finally, what’s to be said about Mike Tomlin? Other than he’s overstayed his welcome. There’s simply too much wrong with this team to say he’s not one of the biggest problems.

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Steelers C Mason Cole admits players were part of why Matt Canada was fired

There’s no doubt the effort wasn’t there by the players in the first half of the season.

When it comes to the NFL, nearly every topic is open to debate. Very rarely is there consensus and a clear-cut right or wrong. But when it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers and whether or not the offense is better after firing Matt Canada, there is no debate. We saw this on full display on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Center Mason Cole addressed the issue and offered something of a different perspective after the win. While he acknowledged the offense played better, he did put some of the blame for Canada’s firing at their feet for not playing harder.

“I think we all looked at each other and knew,” Cole said. “We got to play for each other. We all had a hand in Matt’s firing. We didn’t play well enough for him to keep his job. We had to make it right with the guys in this room.”

There is no doubt that the effort by this offense, especially the offense line was disappointing. Canada’s game plans might not have been great but there were times when the effort was so poor by the players, that it wouldn’t have mattered what play was called.

All that matters now is that the team is focused and brings the same level of effort and energy they did on Sunday for the rest of the season.

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Twitter reacts to the Steelers offense without Matt Canada

Steelers fans are pretty excited about the new-look offense.

Life after Matt Canada seems pretty good. The Pittsburgh Steelers offense looked like a completely different group on Sunday as they beat the Cincinnati Bengals and Twitter had plenty to say about the Steelers offensive performance sans Canada.

Steelers vs Bengals: 4 keys to victory for Pittsburgh

The new offense will be baby steps but the team must continue to do what it does well to beat the Bengals.

This week, the Pittsburgh Steelers hope to put the past behind them and usher in a new era on offense with Matt Canada out and Eddie Faulkner in. First up is the struggling Cincinnati Bengals. If Pittsburgh has any hope of making the playoffs, they have to find a way past the Bengals and get back on track.

NFL analyst calls Steelers ‘a tough offense to watch’

The Steelers offense has been a tough watch all season.

There are few NFL analysts who put in the work that Greg Cosell does. He spends countless hours going over film in a way that the casual fan just can’t. So when Cosell was on the Ross Tucker Podcast and said the Pittsburgh Steelers offense was “a tough offense to watch” he meant it.

The numbers for the Steelers offense speak for themselves. 30th in passing yards, 31th in passing touchdowns and 27th yards per attempt. The offense overall is No. 28 in yards and No. 28 in points scored and somehow this team is still over .500.

Cosell talked about the concepts and the problems with them and hopefully, this will be the biggest shift now that Matt Canada has been fired. The scheme Canada ran did no favors to quarterback Kenny Pickett or the rest of the skill-position players. We fully expect new offensive coordinator Eddie Faulkner and play-caller Mike Sullivan to get this turned around in a hurry.

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Steelers vs. Bengals: Expect same movie, different roles from Pittsburgh

Is it the system or the quarterback? Hard to say if we’ll find that out this season.

Such a drastic measure as making a coaching staff move at this juncture in the season isn’t going to yield many changes for the Pittsburgh Steelers — or any other team — for that matter. That’s partially why firing Matt Canada when it’s almost December came as such a surprise.

Is it the system or the quarterback? Hard to say if we’ll find that out this season. It was a combination of the two, especially given Kenny Pickett‘s abysmal performance this season. The OC only calls the plays, he doesn’t make them. Replacing Canada with two internal guys with only seven games remaining, expect the same move only different roles.

“You can’t have wholesale changes at this point in the season,” he told Steelers media. “We’re going to run the system that we’ve been using, and coach Sully, coach Faulk are going to put their wrinkle on it. What they want to run and when they want to run it.”

Will that wrinkle be enough for the Pittsburgh Steelers not to be the laughingstock of the NFL? We’re about to see.

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Steelers WR George Pickens says he didn’t know Matt Canada was fired until Wednesday

George Pickens might have been the only person in Pittsburgh who missed the Matt Canada firing.

The Pittsburgh Steelers don’t practice on Tuesday so most would consider it a day off. But when the news broke on social media that the team had fired former offensive coordinator Matt Canada, most of the players saw it and knew.

But not wire receiver George Pickens. He talked to the media on Friday and said he didn’t hear about the Canada firing until the next day. Pickens said he doesn’t pay much attention to his phone or social media, which would make him the exception among young people today.

It’s been a tough season for Pickens thanks to the struggles of Canada and quarterback Kenny Pickett. I’m sure Pickens is looking forward to changes in the offense to afford him more opportunities for big plays.

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Steelers vs Bengals: Who wins in Week 12?

Cast your vote for who wins this week between the Steelers and the Bengals.

It’s Week 12 of the NFL season and the Pittsburgh Steelers are holding onto the final spot in the AFC playoffs. The team made a huge move this week in firing offensive coordinator Matt Canada in hopes of jump-starting the offense.

It’s a perfect week for this change. The Steelers are taking on the Cincinnati Bengals and they have Jake Browning starting at quarterback in place of the injured Joe Burrow. In the Steelers Wire podcast this week we talked about the timing of the Canada firing and how it lines up with the next five very winnable games.

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Will the Steelers get back on track this week with the new-look offense against a banged-up Bengals team? Cast your vote and let us know who you think wins this week.

For us, we are picking the Steelers this week. This team isn’t fixed just by firing Canada but we do expect to see the offense play with a new enthusiasm and energy which will carry them to victory over the Bengals.

Steelers 24, Bengals 17

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Steelers vs Bengals: 4 things we expect from the offense this week

The Steelers offense is going to look very different against the Bengals this week.

It is a new era for the Pittsburgh Steelers offense. Out is Matt Canada and in is a combo of Eddie Faulkner and Mike Sullivan. There is no time to waste as the team must implement changes in just a few days ahead of this week’s AFC North showdown with the Cincinnati Bengals.

How different will the offense look this week? Here are four things we expect to see.

New OC Eddie Faulkner on promotion: ‘I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think it was a blessing’

Eddie Faulkner has a golden opportunity with this offense to really make a name for himself.

It’s been a busy week for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The team fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada and proceeded to promote running backs coach Eddie Faulkner to interim offensive coordinator. While he didn’t want to see Canada fired, Faulkner said, he appreciates the seriousness of this opportunity.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think it was a blessing,” Faulkner said. “I totally understand it. You know what I’m saying? Like, I’m at the point in my career where I totally understand the opportunity that’s there. But at the same time, it’s not clouding what the task at hand is.”

Faulkner is hoping to take this offense and pull it out of the basement of the league in most categories. His rushing offense has been one highlight of the team in recent weeks. Along with quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan, he has to figure out how to get the passing offense on track as well.

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