The struggles from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense throughout the 2022 season was rather aggravating for all parties involved and left the Steelers relying heavily on the defense in the second half of the season to win games.
While those struggles — scoring just 18.1 points per game — put offensive coordinator Matt Canada under fire with most of the media, one prominent media member actually liked the way Canada handled this last season, especially with a young offense and a rookie quarterback to boot.
That would be one Bill Cowher, a Hall of Fame coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers and now a prominent NFL analyst on CBS. Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show Thursday afternoon, Cowher stated that he liked what Canada did, bringing along the young offensive pieces slowly so as to not knock their confidence and ask them to do too much in their first foray into the NFL.
“I just think bringing these guys along in a manner in which you don’t want to destroy their confidence, I like what Matt Canada did,” Cowher said, according to video via The Pat McAfee Show on YouTube. “If you think about Joe Burrow and what the Bengals did with him his rookie year. He was in the shotgun, which is what he did in college, and was throwing the ball 35-40 times a game. And he got hurt. Next year, they started putting him under the center, running the football a little bit more. All of a sudden, the run game started complimenting that and now Burrow has evolved to where he’s at.
“I think Matt Canada started doing that a bit last year with Kenny Pickett. He started running the ball a bit, putting him under center, a little play-action. You saw in the preseason that he’s starting to look a little more comfortable right now, starting to process things a bit better, and I think that that’s the thing that you want to do is bring them along slowly, don’t destroy their confidence, because if you throw them in there and ask them to do too much, too early it can stunt their growth.”
Cowher knows a thing or two about bringing a franchise quarterback along slowly, having done it with Ben Roethlisberger during the 2004 season.
As is well known, that season the Steelers had Roethlisberger slated to be the No. 3 quarterback behind Tommy Maddox and Charlie Batch. Then, Batch got hurt in the preseason, elevating Roethlisberger to No. 2. Maddox then went down with an elbow injury in Week Two, forcing Roethlisberger onto the field.
After that, the rest is history as the Steelers finished 15-1 that season with Roethlisberger ripping off 13 straight wins. The Steelers eventually reached the AFC Championship Game, but they didn’t ask Roethlisberger to do too much thanks to a great run game with Willie Parker and Jerome Bettis, and a dominant defense.
The Steelers didn’t ask Roethlisberger to do too much for a few years, even after winning a Super Bowl the following season. Once they turned Roethlisberger loose though, the gunslinger became one of the best quarterbacks in football, putting together a Hall of Fame career.
Knowing what it takes at the NFL level and having developed a quarterback in today’s era, Cowher is a believer in what Canada did late last season with Pickett and what he’s done so far this season with him.
Pickett put together a rather impressive preseason overall and looks like a legitimate franchise guy at this point. Of course, he has to show it on the field in 2023 in games that count, but there’s so much to like about the former Pitt star. So far, so good with Pickett. The Steelers did right by him bringing him along slowly.
Hopefully with his confidence still in place, Pickett can put together a great season in 2023 and show the makings of a great career.
