Facing a third and 1 late in the fourth quarter looking to put the game away, a read option between Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett and running back Najee Harris went sideways, leading to a loss of a yard thanks to the Cleveland Browns’ defense. That forced a punt, giving the Browns one last chance to go win the game offensively.
Though the Steelers still held on to win the game, the disastrous read option that ultimately led to “Fire Canada!” chants directed at much-maligned third-year offensive coordinator Matt Canada remains the focus of attention coming out of the Steelers’ Week Two win.
Based on the alignment of the Browns’ defense on the failed third-down play, questions have come up regarding Pickett’s ability and freedom to check out of a play and get into a better one in Canada’s scheme.
The offensive coordinator addressed those concerns Thursday during his weekly session with reporters, stating that Pickett has quite a bit of discretion at the line of scrimmage and that he has a ton of trust in Pickett within the offense overall.
“Kenny’s got quite a bit of freedom to do things and get us where he wants to go. You know, Kenny’s been very involved in offense and what we’re doing, but at no point has this fallen on Kenny. It falls on all of us and we, as a staff, we’ve gotta put him in a position to make plays,” Canada said to reporters, according to video via ESPN’s Brooke Pryor on Twitter. “We’ve gotta get him to feel good about making plays. We have to get the players around him to help him make plays. A quarterback gets all the credit and gets all the blame, and neither one is right and neither one is fair.
“We’ve gotta play better as an offense. We have to do everything better and until we do it, there’s nothing else to say.”
The play against the Browns late in the fourth quarter was a Canada special: trying to get too cute when keeping it simple would have been just fine. It’s third and one; line up and run the football downhill with Najee Harris or Jaylen Warren. Too often he thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room and wants to prove that with his play calls. This one backfired spectacularly on him.
While Pickett has the freedom to check to certain plays based on certain looks at the line of scrimmage, it’s hard to truly check into something different based on personnel and time on the play clock. The play never had a chance on Monday night, so it’s not about checking out of it and getting a different look, it’s about situational football from the offensive coordinator.
That situational awareness seemingly doesn’t exist, nor does there appear to be an understanding of what his players do or do not do well. Like asking Pickett to run a read option. That’s not his game. Never has been, never will be.
Pickett might have the freedom to do whatever he wants at the line of scrimmage — as he should entering his second season with the grasp of the system he has — but you can only clean up a disaster so much. Canada acknowledged for the second straight week that the coaches have to do a better job of putting players in positions to succeed.
Enough talk, more action.
