If you were hoping for in-depth analysis on why the Pittsburgh Steelers dropped back out of shotgun and threw the ball on 4th and 1 during Sunday’s loss to the Houston Texans, OC Matt Canada isn’t going to be of much help.
Speaking to reporters as he does every Thursday, Canada was asked about the play call. His answer offered no substance.
“It was just the play we had at the time,” Canada said, as tweeted by The Trib’s Chris Adamski. “Obviously didn’t get the result that we wanted.”
I hope you were sitting down for that information.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Brian Batko, Canada told reporters he’ll never talk about execution with the media.
In fairness, nothing Canada could say would make fans accept the play call. Mike Tomlin’s explanation certainly didn’t win anyone over, us included. During his Tuesday press conference, Tomlin said one reason for throwing the ball was because injuries to OT Dan Moore Jr. and TE Pat Freiermuth prevented the team from using heavy personnel. While that may be true, nothing stopped the team from running the ball out of 11 personnel, something the Steelers did exclusively and with success throughout the third quarter as the offense gained its first and only traction of the day.
On the fourth-down failure, Pickett was looking right for WR Allen Robinson II on a speed out. But the Texans’ coverage took it away. With nothing else open to the side, and Pickett feeling potential interior pressure, he attempted to bail and roll to his left. He ran into pressure and was sacked, turning the ball over on downs and injuring his knee. Speaking with reporters Wednesday, Pickett lamented not looking for WR Calvin Austin III on a backside dig route. Austin appeared to be open but it’s an awful lot of work for an offense that only needed a yard.
Here’s a look at the play. It should be noted Pittsburgh ran this earlier in the game on 2nd and 16, making the decision to also use this on 4th and 1 a curious decision. The Steelers were probably expecting the same coverage they got before, Cover 3, and the Texans ran Cover 2 on this play.
The fourth-down play is a microcosm of the team’s play calling issues. While Canada is certainly not the only one who deserves blame, players aren’t executing either. Neither side is helping the other out. The coaches aren’t making the players look good, the players aren’t making the coaches look good, and successful teams are able to do both of those things.
