The topic of predictability on offense has been a big one for the Pittsburgh Steelers offense in 2023. Fans have bemoaned it, former Steelers defensive lineman Chris Hoke has repeatedly called it hogwash, and offensive coordinator Matt Canada has been roasted for it. While fans would love for it to be put to bed, the specter of the predictable offense reared its ugly head again after the 20-10 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday.
One of the Jaguars’ linebackers, Foyesade Oluokun, said after the game that the defense knew what was coming before the snap on Sunday. That did not sit well with a fan base for a team whose offense has by and largely failed the team this season.
However, one member of the offense thinks that this issue is overblown. When C Mason Cole spoke with the media on Monday, Steelers.com captured his response on video to the question about the defense calling out plays.
“I didn’t hear any linebackers calling out plays,” Cole said. “And if it is, man, I just…I don’t think much of it. They can call plays [out] and be wrong, too. It is what it is. Everyone likes to think they know it all. They don’t. It’s not necessarily the case all the time.”
We all know that offenses have tendencies as well as ways to break those tendencies. So Cole certainly is right that defenders can call out plays and be wrong because the offense is running a play that breaks tendencies. You can also know exactly what play is coming your way as a defender and it still be a successful play for the offense. I think that is exactly why Cole doesn’t care specifically about what Oluokun is saying here.
There’s a big difference between knowing what play is being run and stopping the play. Or rather, there should be. As an offense, you don’t necessarily need to catch 11 defenders unaware with the perfect play every time the ball is snapped. You simply need to execute the play better than the defense.
That is the crux of the matter for Pittsburgh. The film is littered with opportunities that the offense simply did not take advantage of. Steelers Depot’s very own Josh Carney looked at three major missed opportunities in the first half alone from Sunday. All three plays were opportunities that schematically worked very well. Two of the three were potential touchdown plays. Who cares if the Jaguars knew what was coming? The defense did not make the play and Pittsburgh simply failed to make the play.
We all know that there are issues that appear to be coming from Canada’s performance as offensive coordinator. The performances throughout the early portions of games this season have been essentially nonexistent, and the rest of the game isn’t a whole lot better. The Steelers have the fifth-fewest passing yards, the fourth-fewest passing touchdowns, and the third-fewest first downs via picked up via throwing the ball.
The run game has not been any better, either. Pittsburgh has the fourth-fewest rushing yards and the fourth-lowest yards per carry. The Steelers are tied for sixth-fewest rushing touchdowns and are tied for the seventh-fewest first downs gained by running the ball.
This quote isn’t excusing those issues. This is simply to say that Cole is right, that the most important part isn’t if the defense knows what play is likely coming. The most important factor in a given play’s success is how well the offense executes it. The Steelers failed to do so on Sunday at least as much as Jacksonville stopped them because they knew what plays were coming pre-snap if not more so.
