For Matt Canada, listening to player feedback is just part of the job. While RB Najee Harris made some headlines, including ours, with his comments about him and C Mason Cole going to Canada to suggest what should be put in the Pittsburgh Steelers playbook and gameplan, Canada downplayed that bye week interaction.
Speaking with reporters Thursday, Canada said it’s the type of conversation he has with all his players and similar to what occurred during last year’s bye.
“It really probably wasn’t as much as that as you might think,” Canada said via audio provided by the Steelers PR department. “It was more just like where we’re at, looking at it and what do you think and how we’re doing it. Anytime we’re wide open to talking figuring out what we could do better and everybody’s working that way.”
Where the Steelers are currently at certainly isn’t where they want to stay. Through five weeks, Pittsburgh’s offense has struggled in essentially every category. Points per game, yards per game, rushing production, first quarter scoring, and red zone trips.
Using the bye week as a chance to self-scout and reflect, Harris told reporters Wednesday he spent an extra day in Pittsburgh and watched film with center Mason Cole. They then took their conclusions to Canada and said he was responsive to those ideas and insights.
“It’s going to be in this game plan…the stuff that we talked about, me and Mason, is happening now,” he said yesterday. “It’s a lot better looks into stuff.”
Time will tell how valuable those adjustments turn out to be. To their credit, Pittsburgh made a post-bye turnaround in 2022 and credited a team meeting during the bye, as the catalyst. Everyone bought into Canada’s gameplan and the production improved, seeing Pittsburgh go 7-2 down the stretch and nearly making the playoffs. The Steelers have a much better record at the bye this year compared to last, 3-2 versus 2-6, but they’re dealing with the same struggles.
For Canada, he appreciates having players like Harris come to him, even if it’s largely standard communication in the Steelers’ building.
“We’ve got a really good group of guys and I think that’s not uncommon for us what they do every week. But I think for the bye week, those guys got together again. Nothing really that abnormal from what we did a year ago or Najee did a year ago.”
Pittsburgh’s next chance to show those improvements comes Sunday afternoon against the Los Angeles Rams, a defense with a below-average run defense but likes to use a five-down front that’s given the Steelers fits throughout the year.
