Over the second half of the 2022 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers scored on 41.3 percent of their offensive drives, good for ninth-best in the league in that span, while having the third-lowest turnover rate.
They’re only scoring on 22.9 percent of their offensive drives through the first four weeks of the 2023 season, ranking 29th in the NFL, with the second-lowest touchdown percentage. But according to offensive coordinator Matt Canada, it’s not the game plan that’s changed.
“I think we’re doing the same things. I think Coach [Mike Tomlin] does a great job leading us”, he told reporters on Thursday, via Amanda Godsey, when asked what they can draw from moving forward going back to the second half of last season.
“When things aren’t great, we try to come together more, we meet as a unit more, we talk more. I don’t think there is something magical about it”, he continued. “We just have to find a way to practice it more, be more detailed, whatever we have to do to get it better”.
Canada seems to have said a variety of exactly this on a weekly basis—because these are the things you say when your offense is not doing well. And the offense has rarely done well since he has gotten here, named offensive coordinator in 2021 after spending a season as the Steelers quarterbacks coach.
“We have to score more points”, he said, another stock answer when your team scores six points. “There’s no running from that, so the formula is being more clear, staying together more, making sure we’re on the same page, and not having that one little blip here or there that derails a drive or a play”.
There’s that “popcorn” again, though in reality, their success even short-lived has been limited. Excluding end-of-half situations, they have 19 drives in four games in which they netted fewer than 10 yards. Only one of them resulted in points—a field goal, the others translating into punts or turnovers.
Yet you look at the last game and you see what Canada is talking about. On the opening drive against the Houston Texans, for example, they were starting to move the ball, picking up a couple first downs, before QB Kenny Pickett is sacked. Suddenly it’s 2nd and 18. On the next play, he’s intercepted.
In the second half, they had two drives end in field goals that stalled inside the red zone. RB Jaylen Warren was stuffed for a two-yard loss on third and 2 at the 15-yard line. One series later, WR George Pickens failed to hang on to the ball in the end zone.
If just a couple of these things go another way per game, the conversation would be different. We would still be having a conversation, make no mistake, but there are certainly times where the offense gets set back by these little blips, as Canada calls them.
To begin with, the Steelers have to figure out how to overcome these blips, because they shouldn’t so automatically stop the unit dead in its tracks. Then it’s a matter of finding out ways to minimize the blips. The negative plays are killing this offense right now. Everybody sees it, yet nobody can stop them from happening.
