The Steelers are now back at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, facing down a long regular season that looks a lot more promising given how things have gone leading up to it. Finishing just above .500 last year, they anticipate being able to compete with any team in the league this season with second-year QB Kenny Pickett leading the way.
They’ve done a great deal to address what they identified as their shortcomings during the offseason, which included addressing the offensive and defensive lines as well as the secondary and the inside linebacker room, which is nearly entirely different from last year. The results have been positive so far.
Even well into the regular season and beyond, there are going to be plenty of questions that need answered. When will the core rookies get to play, or even start? Is the depth sufficient where they upgraded? Can they stand toe-to-toe with the Bengals and the other top teams in the league? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout the season, as we have for many years.
Question: Was fixing the offense really as simple as firing Matt Canada?
This is a rhetorical question, really, for multiple reasons. One is the fact that the offense isn’t actually “fixed” yet. Yes, they did move with more fluidity than in basically any game Canada ran, but they left a lot on the field as well. The other is an acknowledgement of the gradual improvement we’ve seen over the course of the year. This was as much a culmination as anything.
With that being said, the eyes do not lie. The offense was much better yesterday than it has been for basically the vast majority of the past two and a half years. Consider this statistic: they didn’t go three-and-out once in the whole game.
Barring the victory formation, they picked up at least one first down on every single possession. Seven of their nine competitive possessions produced 30-plus yards of offense. And as you already know, they recorded 400-plus yards from scrimmage for the first time in years.
Some things were different. They used the middle of the field more, for example. They used the tight ends more in the passing game, with Pat Freiermuth having a career day. Those two things combined were not a coincidence. But they also took more shots—and were successful doing it.
The running game continued to be a positive force for the offense, though on the day it was more Najee Harris than Jaylen Warren stirring the drink. A few less obvious minor adjustments about movement usage, personnel differentiation, were also observed.
But they ultimately scored only 16 points, even if you could argue it should have been 23 had a touchdown by WR Diontae Johnson not been negated by a poor call on the field. The play was made, it just wasn’t counted.
The play-to-play success was there. One would hope that the points will follow. But was that because they got out from under the yoke of Matt Canada? Was it just a particularly motivated group? A bad defensive effort? Next week will be informative.
