Despite the defense forcing three Jaguars turnovers in Pittsburgh’s 20-10 loss on Sunday, the offense couldn’t capitalize and looked pretty terrible once again. In a video for The 33rd Team, Hall of Fame CB and current analyst Ronde Barber and former NFL MVP Rich Gannon broke down what’s going wrong with the Steelers, and both of them were critical of Pittsburgh’s offense.
“Week in and week out, if the defense doesn’t produce game-changing plays, and they had three turnovers with the Jaguars, one going into score and two in the red zone, and they’re still not able to capitalize and make this game in their favor. And so it has to fall on the offense,” Barber said. “I don’t know how they’ve won four games, to be honest with you. Obviously, we know this defense, but I don’t even know how they’ve generated offense to win four games. Until they fix it, it’s gonna be this way the whole year, they’re gonna be a .500 team at best.”
Gannon said that he thinks QB Kenny Pickett, who left yesterday’s loss with a rib injury right before halftime and didn’t return, has regressed in his second season.
“I don’t think he looks comfortable in the offense,” Gannon said. “Najee Harris has been disappointing, he has a difficult time getting back to the line of scrimmage.”
There are legitimate questions about Pickett, who looked off on a few throws yesterday. He didn’t get help from WR Diontae Johnson, who dropped a pass up the seam on the first play of the game that could’ve kick-started things for the Steelers, but in general, Pickett has just been meh for most of this season.
He’s managed to turn things around in the fourth quarter and help the Steelers win a few games, but it’s a fair assessment that he’s regressed. He was playing better the last few weeks than at the start of the season, but it’s still a concern and a real question whether he’s going to be the long-term answer.
There’s also obviously the problem of offensive coordinator Matt Canada, who since taking over the role in 2021, has never had an offense get 400-plus yards in a game. Under Canada, the offense has been bad, and it’s a trend that’s continued with different personnel over the last three seasons. At some point, he’s the commonality of this perpetually struggling offense, and it would be surprising if he’s back in Pittsburgh next season.
But he’s along for the ride the rest of this year, and Canada’s going to have to figure out a way for this offense to be better. It’s going to be difficult with Pickett’s status looking gloomy for Sunday’s game, but the Steelers need to improve across the board. The run game needs to be better, the offensive line has to be better, and the quarterback play and passing game need to be better. We’ll see if Canada can find a way to spark this offense and turn it around for the first time since he’s been the offensive coordinator.
