It’s long past time for Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada to be fired, at least in the opinion of Steelers fans and countless NFL observers. Head coach Mike Tomlin may not agree, but the calls for Canada’s job have now grown so loud that he is unable to ignore them.
On Thursday the beleaguered Steelers coordinator spent more than 12 minutes talking to the media, and directly addressed the question of his job security.
Matt Canada: ‘I’m Not Naïve to It’
“The way that you guys are so fond of me, I don’t read anything, that’d be very unhealthy,” he said, acknowledging that he’s well aware of what is being said in the media, even if he avoids being exposed to the specifics. “I’ve got family and I’ve got people that care about me, so I’m not naïve to it. I have a job everybody talks about.”
He went on to insist that it’s only a matter of time before the team’s offense breaks out and realizes its potential.
“We got great talent. We gotta get balls down the field too. We gotta block a little better. We gotta get our run game. Our run game efficiency is coming, but it’s not enough, right?” he added, as per Brooke Pryor of ESPN.
In Canada’s mind, the team needs to continue to stay the course while the many young players on offense continue to develop chemistry with each other.
“Do I think our offense is gonna be really good? I really, really do. Are we there now? No. Is it a good enough? No. And we all are aware of that, and all you can do is just keep fighting and keep pushing and wait for the dam to break,” he said.
Representative Steelers Fan: ‘The Offense Will be Tremendous … Whenever You’re Gone’
Steelers fans will believe it when they see it, however. Canada’s presser prompted one observer to quip:
“Matt Canada is dressing up as a coordinator for Halloween.”
Another said: “This offense will be tremendous, whenever you’re gone, Matt.”
The bottom line is that Matt Canada’s offense hasn’t scored nearly enough points, regardless of who has been playing quarterback, whether that be Ben Roethlisberger, Mitch Trubisky or Kenny Pickett. This despite having a wide receiver corps with an “incredibly high” ceiling, as Pro Football Focus recently put it.
In fact, stats from NFL.com reveal that the Steelers have scored just 10 touchdowns in seven games, tied for second-fewest in the league with the Houston Texans, while scoring just 15.3 points per game, also second-worst in the league.
The Eagles Lead the NFL in Opponent Passer Rating
Things don’t figure to get any easier this Sunday when the Steelers face the NFL’s only unbeaten team in the 6-0 Philadelphia Eagles.
As noted by Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “(t)he Eagles lead the league in opponent passer rating (66.0) and rank second in opponent completion percentage (56.8%) and yards per play (4.7), fifth in passing yardage allowed (188.0) as well as fourth each in total yards (281.5) and scoring (17.7 points per game).”
Moreover, “opposing quarterbacks are averaging just 4.6 net yards per passing attempt, second-best in the league and a concerning number for a Steelers offense that is last in the NFL in yards per play (4.8),” notes Adamski.
That sounds like more bad news for Pittsburgh’s offense, especially when one considers that Steelers rookie QB Kenny Pickett has a passer rating of 66.7 against teams not as good as the Eagles, while averaging a mere 6.1 yards per attempt, according to Pro Football Reference.
