Based off everything the Pittsburgh Steelers have done in the last two offseasons from a player acquisition standpoint, it’s quite clear that Mike Tomlin wants his team to run the football, play great defense and win low-scoring games.
Down the stretch in 2022 that worked very well for the Steelers, who went 7-2 in the second half of the season, rebounding from a dreadful 2-6 start finish 9-8 on the year. In that second half of the season, the Steelers got healthy on defense leading to a sparkling performance week after week from that unit, and also put together the No. 7 rushing attack in the NFL led by Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren.
Pittsburgh has aimed to build off that this offseason on into training camp and the preseason.
So far, things look rather good there.
Second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett has seemingly taken a step forward this offseason and looks very promising throwing the football. The Steelers are utilizing the middle of the field, creating explosive plays offensively and really look like a unit that could be a problem for the NFL moving forward.
There’s just one problem with that: it’s going to be a conservative offense overall.
That’s why NFL Network Insider Mike Garafolo wants the Steelers to … let Matt Canada cook.
“This is a team that prides itself on running the football and playing good defense … what they need to do is let Matt Canada cook!” Garafolo said on Good Morning Football Monday. “And Kenny Pickett? Yes he can. We’re seeing it in the preseason right now. They have got to open up this offense. Canada came from college, and he was gonna come with all these newfangled ideas and these motions. I feel like he’s kinda been constrained to do things the way the Steelers want.
“… This team can’t be the traditional Pittsburgh Steelers. They’ve got to open it up and they’ve got to let Kenny Pickett spread it around to all those weapons and they’ve got to let Matt Canada cook!”
That sounds nice in theory, but the chances of the Steelers all of a sudden breaking the mold that they have built towards the last two offseasons simply isn’t going to happen — at least not for the 2023 season.
Yes, Pickett looks rather impressive in the preseason, and he’s carried it over from training camp practices at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, but the Steelers are built to be that ground-and-pound team that punishes defenses into oblivion and then takes advantage over the top with play-action passes, rollouts and downfield shots at opportune times.
It might not be the way the league is trending overall, but the Steelers very clearly see a path forward to success with that style. It helps that they did it that way down the stretch last season and won a lot of games.
We’ll see how things develop offensively once the regular season starts, but there seems to be a nice balance in Pittsburgh from a run-pass perspective. There’s a good balance to the team, too, with a ball-control emphasis offensively and a star-studded defense that is aiming for turnovers and short fields.
That style might not be pretty and won’t have casual fans tuning in to watch the Steelers play old-school football, but it doesn’t matter if they do the most important thing: win. Let the Steelers cook, in that sense.
