Pittsburgh Steelers OC Matt Canada has often been scrutinized by the fan base and analysts alike since he arrived in Pittsburgh due to his predictable college offensive system.
Recently, Alex Kozora of Steelers Depot dove into Canada’s play-calling and highlighted the issues with the scheme being run, calling it boring in nature with little creativity to put opposing defenses on their heels due to the repeated play calls he likes to go back to on a regular basis. While it is supposed to be simple to execute, the offense has struggled to do just that through three games, as the results haven’t been there due to lack of execution, rigidity in the calls, and the limited nature of what is being called.
However, QB Mitch Trubisky backed his offensive coordinator Wednesday morning prior to practice, stating that he has put Pittsburgh in position to be successful on offense and that it’s on the players to hold up their end of the bargain.
“We’ve got a bunch of great players,” Trubisky said to the media Wednesday according to a tweet from ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. “We got a bunch of great calls. Matt (Canada) has been calling good games, he’s been putting us in good spots. We just got to go out, make plays for him and for this offense.”
It’s to be expected that Trubisky would back his OC after both have taken much backlash in recent weeks due to the offense’s inability to sustain drives and consistently put points on the board. Kozora recently did a video breakdown on both Canada and Trubisky and who is to blame for the offensive woes, pointing to Trubisky leaving plays out on the field, but Canada calling plays that have very few outs in terms of producing positive outcomes and beating the coverage on the other side of the LOS.
It’s interesting to note Trubisky’s apparent frustration with Canada’s scheme after Pittsburgh’s Week 2 loss against the New England Patriots, stating that more concepts need to be called to the middle of the field so the offense can target receivers there. A complete 180-degree turn here by Trubisky a week later, now backing his play-caller even after Pittsburgh failed to get anything going in the second half against Cleveland after the no-huddle offense sparked life into what has been a stagnant offense thus far this season.
It will be interesting to see what adjustments, if any, are made for this week’s matchup against the Jets and if Trubisky’s relationship with Canada will still look positive if the offense fails to get anything going again.
