Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada has been public enemy number one to Steelers fans and even a large section of the media all season long. The offense’s struggles are well-documented. Yet with the game on the line in the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Rams, QB Kenny Pickett and the entire offense got going for two touchdown drives for a 24-17 victory.
On Monday’s episode of Footbahlin With Ben Roethlisberger, the two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback had some positive words for the embattled coordinator.
“Especially the fourth quarter, the Steelers looked great on offense,” Roethlisberger said. “Are we going to give Matt Canada praise? Are Steelers fans going to back off the ‘Fire Canada’ stuff?… I’m just saying, did he not call a good game, in the second half especially? I mean, the fourth quarter, the runs, some of those passes, throwing those out routes, throwing go balls, throwing some in-breaking stuff. I thought they did good stuff.”
There’s no real argument to be made that Pittsburgh’s offense was bad in the fourth quarter. Pickett was perfect on all seven of his logged passing attempts (he did have one incompletion that did not count due to offsetting penalties that included a defensive pass interference.) Both RB Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris got involved, and each of them scored their first touchdowns of 2023 in the win. So by all accounts, Canada and his offense did a great job in the fourth quarter.
However, there were still issues that reared their ugly heads in the first three quarters. They failed to score in the first quarter (but to be certain, they did start a field goal drive with under four minutes to go in the first before kicking the field goal on the second play of the second quarter). There were three three-and-outs, plus two other drives where the offense was able to pick up one first down and then stalled out.
That being said, the Steelers scored three touchdowns on offense Sunday on the road on the West Coast. All three were rushing touchdowns, marking the first time Pittsburgh had scored any touchdowns on the ground this season. That’s a sign of improvement to go along with the performance in the fourth quarter.
Now could the return of WR Diontae Johnson be a big part of the performance? He did kickstart the fourth quarter with a big catch-and-run on the first play of the final 15 minutes. Perhaps he’s the key to unlocking this offense. Regardless, the offense executed at an extremely high level when it counted, and Canada is responsible for getting the offense ready for that situation.
Should that fourth-quarter performance end the ‘Fire Canada’ chants? After all the issues the offense has gone through in the first five games (and even at points in the first three quarters of this game,) it won’t. However, it may quiet them a little bit. You can bet that the first three-and-out next week will bring those calls back real quick, though.
You can watch the entire episode below.
