When the Pittsburgh Steelers offense takes the field, nobody is surprised to see what happens next. Not even defenses. The Jacksonville Jaguars certainly were not surprised, as LB Foye Oluokon said after the game. For about the fifth time or so since last season, he is merely the latest opponent to comment on the predictability of their playcalling.
“I think we played pretty physical. I don’t know if they really ran it on us that much. Kind of called out a lot of their plays before they happened”, he said after the game, via 1010XL 92.5 FM. “We might see them again later. That’s a good team, so, hat’s off to them and be prepared if we see them later”.
On the whole, Oluokon was consciously measured in his comments. He did not take most of the bait when asked about WR George Pickens’ ‘hope defense’ comment last week, merely saying that they hoped pretty well.
But watching the Steelers’ offense play today, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Jaguars had an idea of what was coming beforehand. It wasn’t that they were playing inspired, per se, based on some perceived slights. They just knew how to defend what they were about to run.
Again.
Especially when it comes to the supposed ‘scripted’ plays. The Steelers did not gain a first down on their first four possessions, 20 minutes into the game, and similar phenomena have become all too common over the past two years.
It was around that time that the first “Fire Matt Canada” chant was heard inside Acrisure Stadium this Sunday. Those calls have become widespread, whether the Steelers happen to be playing in the venue in question or not. There’s even a petition.
Canada is in his third season as the Steelers’ offensive coordinator and his fourth with the team overall after serving as quarterbacks coach in 2020. He has not been the most popular man in Pittsburgh for some time—and people actually wanted him to be offensive coordinator in 2021 when he was first promoted.
Even the players know what’s going on. WR Diontae Johnson recently talked about the empathy that he feels for his play-caller for how much vitriol he receives, and that he goes out of his way to try to talk to Canada about the situation. And yet he also admitted that he doesn’t always like the plays that are called, but he has to respect them all the same.
But while all teams to a certain extent can gauge what an opponent is likely to run—that’s what film study is for, after all—the frequency with which we hear these comments about Canada’s offense kind of feels unprecedented.
It’s a relatively simplistic offense without a lot of variety, barring a play here and there, so it shouldn’t really be too hard to figure out. And it hasn’t gained much in complexity even as the players in the system have gotten more experienced. It’s more than a pattern at this point.
