The Pittsburgh Steelers have a future Hall of Fame quarterback who is entering his 18th season in the NFL this year. The guy in his ears calling plays is in his first season as an offensive coordinator at the NFL level, and in just his second in the league altogether, after serving as the team’s quarterbacks coach a year ago.
But there are no indications that the working relationship between Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Canada has not been good. In fact, we have heard from both sides that they have learned and grown from the experience of working with the other. Earlier in training camp, he talked about embracing the newness of the challenge of mastering Canada’s offense.
“Yeah, we actually had a conversation about that when he was out” of the game on Saturday night, Canada said on Wednesday, “and he was still engaged on the phone last week once he was done playing. I think Ben and I have a very similar belief in that all we want to do is win games. We’re gonna work together”.
“I’ve said it from day one: I’ve learned from him, I’ve listened to him, and obviously, we have things like, ‘let’s give this a look’, on both sides”, he added. “Maybe, ‘we’re doing this, and this is a thought I had’, and, ‘give this a look’, and, ‘hey, look at this from his perspective’”.
While Canada has only been in the NFL for going on two seasons, he has an extensive resume at the college level, a quality that is becoming increasingly more attractive to NFL teams, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. Several teams consulted with him during the 2019 season when he was not employed with a team on offensive concepts before Pittsburgh hired him in 2020. But the ultimate concept is simple: Do what it takes to win.
“All we’re trying to do is find a way to score one more point on the team we play every week we play”, he said. “That’s our only goal. I think all of us are doing that, certainly. Not minimizing the great ability and knowledge of the game Ben has. I’ve said that multiple times, we’re gonna use everything we can to get that done”.
Whether it’s throwing the ball, running the ball a bunch, varying things heavily week to week based on your opponent and who you have available, the objective for every game never varies. You simply want to win, and you do that by outscoring the other guy.
