After both head coach Mike Tomlin and QB Kenny Pickett denied there was any change to offensive coordinator Matt Canada’s role following a report on Sunday he would have more involvement, Canada came out today and also denied the report by NFL insider Jordan Schultz.
Brooke Pryor of ESPN passed along Canada’s quote saying nothing has changed with his role.
“No, nothing at all. I’m the coordinator and I work with him out there, Sully and I do, I think a really good job of if I talk to him on the field, I tell Sully what I said. If we had a meeting, we want to do a great job of having one voice, but there’s nothing at all changed. Kenny and I have known each other, got a great relationship. All we’re trying to do is find a way to be more efficient and that’s all we do every week,” Canada said in his press conference today, via Pryor on Twitter.
The implication of the report is that Canada would also essentially serve as the team’s quarterback’s coach, mitigating Mike Sullivan’s role. The report specifically said that Canada would be “working directly with Pickett on a daily basis,” and while Pickett said the two might be meeting more than they have in the past, that’s normal for a quarterback and offensive coordinator as the season progresses.
With Tomlin, Pickett and Canada all coming out and denying the report, Steelers fans can put their pitchforks down over the much-maligned offensive coordinator supposedly getting more responsibility. There’s bound to be more communication between the two to figure out what plays are working and which ones aren’t as the sample size grows throughout the season, but that doesn’t directly change Canada’s role. Sullivan is still the guy leading the quarterback room, and Canada made it clear that his communication with Sullivan is at a high level.
The Steelers offense is coming off its best game of the season, accumulating 350 total yards with Pickett throwing for two touchdowns in a game for the first time in his career. He also added 244 yards through the air. It was a good performance to build off after a poor start in the team’s first two games, and hopefully Pickett, Canada and Sullivan can continue to work together to continue to stack good performances.
Canada helped recruit Pickett to Pitt, so the two have known each other since Pickett was a teenager. That’s why a switch increasing Canada’s involvement with Pickett wasn’t completely hard to fathom, but it sounds as if his role will remain the same. It’s for the betterment of the team to not mess with roles in-season, and it would’ve been somewhat out of character for the Steelers to make that type of move, especially so early in the season.
But nothing is changing, and the coaching staff will look to continue to keep winning and help the offense progress in the same way the unit was doing before the season started, but with the benefit of having some tangible results in the form of real games.
