Week One of the NFL season can be the ultimate mirage. Teams that get off to a hot start can fade by midseason. Others start slow only to remind you they’re powerhouses by playoff time. But Stephen A. Smith doesn’t have much patience to wait around and find out if the Pittsburgh Steelers can pull it together.
Appearing on ESPN Friday morning, Smith criticized the job Matt Canada has done and suggested it’s time to move on from him.
“Todd Haley’s on NFL radio…damn it, go back and get him before we have to deal with Matt Canada if he can’t change things around,” Smith said this morning on First Take. “I’m a Steelers fan. I’m getting sick and tired of that damn offensive coordinator. Mike Tomlin, do something about it.”
Just one week into the season and Canada is already feeling the heat. After a strong preseason in which the Steelers’ offense looked legitimately improved, they came out flat against the San Francisco 49ers. Pittsburgh scored just seven points, those coming on a hurry-up, two-minute drive, and spent the rest of the day struggling to move the football. They failed to record a first down for the first 28 minutes of the game, fell behind and abandoned their running game, while the passing game settled for short throws against the 49ers’ soft zone coverage.
It became one of the team’s worst home losses in recent memory, washing away the summer hope of a new-look offense. Granted, the Steelers faced a stingy San Francisco 49ers defense and a team with Super Bowl aspirations, but it puts the pressure on for a pivotal Week Two game Monday night against the Cleveland Browns.
As for Haley, he served as the team’s offensive coordinator from 2012-17, leading the team to some measure of success though he also benefitted from having the likes of Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell, and Antonio Brown. His prickly personality led to conflict and the team replaced him with Randy Fichtner for the 2018 season. Haley is currently head coach of the USFL Memphis Showboats, leading them to a 5-5 record in 2023.
For Smith, he’s not letting Canada off the hook. And says Tomlin better be ready to pull the plug.
“Mike Tomlin, y’all don’t hesitate to make changes with players when they don’t produce. But you want to hold onto offensive coordinators.”
Pittsburgh decided to keep Canada for the 2023 season, ostensibly for two reasons. One, the team almost never fires coaches under contract and Canada’s deal runs through this year. Ownership doesn’t want to pay a coach to sit on his couch each week. Two, the team valued the continuity between Canada and QB Kenny Pickett, opting against Pickett learning a new offense in his second year.
But the NFL is a results-driven business. So far, the results haven’t been there. In Canada’s defense, he’s been dealt a difficult hand with a retooled offense coming out of the Ben Roethlisberger era. And it wasn’t until this season that the Steelers felt good – on paper, anyway – about their offensive line. Still, 2023 is the year where all excuses go away. It’s put up or shut up. One game in, and the Steelers have been shut up and shutdown.
Stephen A. won’t get his wish of bringing Haley back, that ship has long sailed, but a coordinator change could be coming after this season. For Canada to save his job, he’ll have to turn the team around in short order. That starts in Week Two against a tough Browns defense and without the services of WR Diontae Johnson, who is out at least this game due to a hamstring injury. If anything, that makes Canada all the more important, needing a scheme to overcome the obstacles ahead of this team.
