After expressing his displeasure on Twitter yesterday, former Pittsburgh Steelers safety and current ESPN analyst Ryan Clark eviscerated the Pittsburgh Steelers for their performance in their 30-6 loss to the Houston Texans yesterday. Clark said Monday that the performance was a new low for the Steelers and thinks that Matt Canada needs to go.
Clark started by laying into the defense’s effort against C.J. Stroud and the Texans offense.
“It absolutely is a new low,” Clark said on ESPN’s Get Up morning show. “When a defense that has any pride, when a defense that believes in itself goes against a rookie, you go win.”
He questioned the defense’s effort late in the first half and late in the game when the Steelers allowed the Stroud-Nico Collins connection to burn them.
“They were out-coached, they were out-executed, they were out-played, and point blank, the Houston Texans wanted it more,” he said.
Clark then turned his attention to the offense, calling for Matt Canada to be fired as a part of the “changes” that Mike Tomlin talked about in his post-game press conference.
“Stop bumping your head up against the Matthew Canada wall. Send him back. Wherever you want to send him. Send him back to Pitt. Hell, I’d even take him back at LSU,” Clark said. “It is sickening what you saw yesterday from the Pittsburgh Steelers, and I expect wholesale changes.”
Fellow ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky slammed Canada for being too predictable, particularly on the Steven Nelson interception. It was the same play Pittsburgh ran for a touchdown against the Las Vegas Raiders and ran multiple other times this season. He also questioned Pickett’s arm strength and said it’s allowing opposing secondaries to be able to sit on the ball.
The Steelers have a plethora of issues right now. The defense wasn’t good enough, allowing Stroud to get the ball out quickly and make plays despite a makeshift offensive line in front of him. The secondary was bad, giving up way too many chunk plays and allowing too much space for Texans’ wideouts to operate.
Offensively, they’re an unmitigated disaster. The run game actually got going a little bit, so what do the Steelers do? Completely abandon the run until the game is already out of hand! Canada’s play-calling hit a new low in Houston, something that didn’t seem possible, and Pickett’s execution (along with most of the offense) was pretty poor until he exited with a knee injury.
I don’t think the Steelers will fire Canada, just because it’s not their M.O. If it happens, it won’t be until after Week Five anyway when the team hits its bye week. At this point, things feel pretty hopeless, hence why Clark said it’s a new low. It’s hard to believe that this team has any sort of ceiling despite being 2-2 because the offense has just been so bad. After showing some positive signs in Week Three, it just completely regressed and plummeted in Week Four, with its worst showing of the season.
Credit to the Texans for scheming ways to beat Pittsburgh’s pass rush, because even when T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith were able to get pressure, Stroud was able to get the ball out quick and the Pittsburgh secondary just couldn’t do anything to stop it. When that’s happening and the offense can’t move the ball, the Steelers aren’t going to win.
There needs to be changes. Scheme, personnel, something. This team has too many issues to stick to the status quo. We’ll see what things look like going forward, but I’m worried.
