After last Sunday’s poor performance offensively, it’s easy to say that offensive coordinator Matt Canada has become a hot name in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh looked lost offensively against the San Francisco 49ers, abandoning the running game right from the get-go as QB Kenny Pickett dropped back to pass 46 times. The offense looked limited in terms of play calling on the afternoon as well with Canada calling shallow cross eight total times with poor results. He kept trying to go back to the well rather than try something different as his game plan faltered.
The national media is starting to ramp up the heat on Canada in Pittsburgh as well despite a great preseason showing by Pittsburgh’s offense. NFL analyst Brian Baldinger recently stated that Canada must be on the hot seat if the offense plays poorly again against the Cleveland Browns on Monday night, stating someone must be the fall guy after Pittsburgh went about improving its roster this offseason. The Cleveland Browns media has picked up on it as well as Jay Crawford and the cast at the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show talked about Pittsburgh’s offensive coordinator ahead of the primetime matchup and how they relate it to what happened to Cleveland’s defense a season ago.
“Their offense is broken, and a lot of people that watch the Steelers a lot more than I do tell me that [Matt] Canada is absolutely the problem just like we sat here last year, and we know what the problem is with the Browns’ defense,” Crawford said via video at the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show’s Twitter page. “They haven’t had a 400-yard game in over three years?”
This seems a little harsh after just one game, but Pittsburgh’s offense did look out of sorts last Sunday as there was no semblance of a running game and Pickett struggled at completing routine pass attempts. Crawford related the issue of Canada at offensive coordinator for Pittsburgh to Cleveland’s defensive coordinator situation last season when Joe Woods was in that role. Woods worked with Mike Tomlin in Tampa Bay back in 2004 and got hired as the Browns’ defensive coordinator in 2020. However, Woods struggled to get the most out of a unit full of talent as Cleveland got gashed on the ground last season while also struggling to get pressure on the quarterback outside of DE Myles Garrett.
Canada’s history isn’t speaking well for himself either, seeing as Pittsburgh is the only team without a 400-yard game on offense in the league since the Steelers hired Canada in 2021. Being in a contract year and with elevated expectations due to an improved roster, Canada’s seat is getting hot to turn that history around soon. He faces quite the challenge with a stout Cleveland defense staring him in the face this coming week, putting him in a tough position to get things turned around quickly.
