Former Steelers Show Support for Matt Canada

Story by Yinzer Crazy Steelers Contributor Adam Lovelace. Follow him on Twitter @98_lovelace

With the Pittsburgh Steelers being dead last in the league in total offense, fans and media alike are calling for Matt Canada to be fired. While being the last ranked offense in the league and barely scoring 15 points a game feels reason enough to be fired, will the Steelers do it?

While Randy Fichtner was let go after scoring almost 23 points a game two years ago, there is a key difference between that instance, and where the Steelers find themselves with Canada. Ben Roethlisberger. What might be Canada’s saving grace, is the fact that Kenny Pickett is his quarterback.

Despite some initial excitement, and downright delusion by someone whose last name rhymes with Rice-a-Roni, Pickett has been admittedly underwhelming. And while even I have succumbed to some overreaction, calling for the Steelers to draft another QB this year, it was to be expected.

It feels as though this has been mentioned ad nauseum, but every rookie struggles in their first year. Now is not the time to be calling Pickett a bust, even though it is going to be said all the same. Yet, it is the simple fact that Pickett is a rookie, that might buy Matt Canada at least one more year as the play caller in Pittsburgh.

This week former Steelers defensive lineman Chris Hoke jumped on 97.3 The Fan and spoke openly about Kenny Pickett: “guys are open, and Kenny is not seeing them.” He continued by citing two instance where Pickett missed two open passes to Pat Freiermuth, and questioned, “Is that on Matt Canada?” Well, yes and no. While Kenny is certainly missing open guys, he is not solely to blame. It is fair to criticize Pickett, we have seen him embrace and accept that criticism. He is not playing well, but few rookies do.

While Kenny does shoulder some of the blame, Canada is responsible for what Hoke speaks to in his interview. Missing open guys is a result of a combination of things. One, uncertainty or inability at the quarterback position. Two, poor coaching. When it comes to the quarterback position, QB coach Mike Sullivan even admitted that Pickett needs to improve his deep ball accuracy if they want to have offensive success.

Not an uncommon statement by a QB coach regarding his rookie. Yet, it is up to Canada to make things easy on his rookie. They are asking him to throw the ball upwards of 40 times a game, and if they are going to do that, Canada needs to give Kenny easy reads, and easy options. I have said since the jump, this offense doesn’t look well coached at any spot. That could be, because outside of Sullivan, all position coaches are Canada’s guys. Not surprising the offense is struggling.

That is, in large part, why Tomlin probably won’t fire Canada during the year. If he fires Canada, he must fire all his position coaches as well, Sullivan excluded (that’s for a different article). While that is more than fine, and quite frankly preferable, it simply isn’t feasible in the middle of the season.

While a position coach, presumably Sullivan, could take over play calling duties if Canada gets fired, position coaches rarely have replacements. In most instances position coaches have one assistant.

That assistant usually young and inexperienced, and not ready to take over as the position coach in the middle of the season. So, firing essentially the entire offensive staff in week 9 is basically a sign to your team that you no longer care about winning games.

However, Canada will certainly be fired at the end of the season, right? Maybe. What is keeping Canada his job, might be what saves it for his third season as play caller. Comments by Hoke and Sullivan make it easy to connect the dots to the argument for keeping Canada around for at least one more season. He is working with a rookie.

This season has been disjointed. Mitchell Trubisky struggled; Pickett was thrust into playing at half against the Jets and has been starting ever since. It could easily be said that Canada still has work to do with a first year NFL QB. Canada, in fairness, has had to coach 3 different quarterbacks in 2 seasons. It is not unfathomable that the Steelers organization gives Canada one more year at the helm of the offense.

I am not saying it is inevitable that Canada returns, but it is easy to see the road that leads to him getting one more chance. If it does happen, don’t say I didn’t warn you.