Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada met with the media today following a poor performance from his offense in the team’s 30-6 loss in Week Four. Canada told reporters, including TribLive’s Joe Rutter, that he only blames himself for the team’s offensive struggles.
“I’ve stood up here every time, I’ve never placed any blame anywhere but on me and I’ve said every time I believe 1,000 percent in our players and coaches. If I haven’t been clear about that… I think I have been clear about that,” Canada said, per Rutter.
Canada deserves the bulk of the blame, especially given that this is now Year Three of his tenure as offensive coordinator and there hasn’t been any sort of improvement with his offense. It’s consistently been bad, and 2023 is no different.
Canada does do a good job not throwing his players under the bus. He does shoulder the blame, even when it comes in between some answers that are just plain bad. But he’s never once thrown anybody other than himself under the bus, and if nothing else, that probably helps keep morale up in the locker room.
He also doesn’t deserve all the blame, either. He makes a lot of mistakes, and at this point he hasn’t shown himself to be a good play caller, but execution has also been a major issue. From poor blocking on the offensive line to some accuracy and decision-making issues out of QB Kenny Pickett, Canada is not the sole person to blame.
But the blame game doesn’t win games. It doesn’t really matter whether we blame Canada or blame Pickett or blame the offensive line or blame Mike Tomlin. What matters is the players haven’t been prepared, and they haven’t executed. Najee Harris said yesterday that the focus should be on the players to execute, and he has a point. It’s flawed, because the coaches haven’t always put them in the best position to succeed, but between the lines it’s 11v11. If the players don’t execute, they won’t win.
The Steelers haven’t lived up to expectations. That falls on everybody. Yet, they have a chance to go into their Week Six bye atop the AFC North if they can beat the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. It’s going to take better coaching and it’s going to take better execution on the field, on both sides of the ball, but things aren’t as negative as they feel right now. Things need to get better, and fast. But ultimately, who to blame doesn’t matter. Winning does.
