Matt Canada is adding some salt to his Thanksgiving meal.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Canada made it obvious he’s well-aware of the criticisms he’s received from the media and fanbase. Wanting to fire the OC is something of a national pastime in Pittsburgh and Canada’s gotten as much hate as any recent name.
In a response praising the job the offensive coaching staff has done, Canada found room to fit in a jab about his own job performance.
“We got a staff, a really, really, really good offensive staff,” he said via Steelers.com. “You can take me out of it. That would fit what everyone wants to do.”
Shots fired.
While I doubt Canada is someone who spends his days scrolling social media, when you live in Pittsburgh, hearing that criticism is unavoidable. He has been disliked by the fanbase all year long as the Steelers have consistently had one of the worst offenses this season. For weeks, they were the 31st ranked scoring offense and have only slightly climbed in recent weeks, in part thanks to their 30-point showing in Sunday’s loss against the Cincinnati Bengals.
In terms of overall results, it’s hard to defend him. Pittsburgh’s offense has been as basic as it’s been unproductive, struggling in its first year without Ben Roethlisberger. Despite generally having good health, the Steelers’ offense has only scored more than 20 points once this season. Not all of that falls on the offensive coordinator but the buck stops with the coach.
Snark aside, Canada did praise the rest of the coaching staff.
“We’ve got two Super Bowls with Sully. Two with Fredo. We’ve got a lot of good ideas, good plays.”
That’s referring to QBs Coach Mike Sullivan, who won a pair with the New York Giants, and TEs Coach Alfredo Roberts who won a Super Bowl as a player with the Dallas Cowboys in the 90s. Canada went on to praise the talent the Steelers having, noting the team has “really good players.”
But the NFL is a results-oriented business and those certainly haven’t been there for Pittsburgh. Now, the Steelers will have to determine to do what the fanbase wants and fire Canada after the season. That seems like the most likely course of action but Pittsburgh’s an organization notoriously slow to make coaching changes while Mike Tomlin has defended Canada throughout the year. Should the team move on from him, they’ll have to decide whether to stay internal for a third-straight time or go outside the organization for the first time since Todd Haley was hired in 2012.
