The Good Morning Football crew broke down the Pittsburgh Steelers win over the Tennessee Titans on Thursday Night Football, and guest contributor Shaun O’Hara said he was impressed with Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada. While Pittsburgh’s offense scored just 20 points, the Steelers did have another fourth-quarter comeback and got the win, which is the most important thing. O’Hara particularly praised Canada for having the Steelers play up-tempo and getting the run game going.
‘”This game felt [Mike] Tomlin tough, like the way they just battled through it,” O’Hara said on the NFL Network show. “[Kenny] Pickett came to play, Canada provided a spark. Whether it was being down on the field right there or just the way they kind of went up-tempo. And I really feel like the run game is what sparked this offensive surge.”
Despite “Fire Canada” chants once again starting at Acrisure Stadium, last night was a good game out of Canada. The offense’s failures were largely the fault of QB Kenny Pickett, who once again was inaccurate and struggled to get the ball to his receivers in the right spots. Of course, Pickett then turned things on in the fourth quarter, as he tends to do, and the Steelers won. But Canada, the most maligned man in Pittsburgh, will probably somehow still get blamed despite actually calling a pretty good game.
It wasn’t perfect. Going Wildcat from the goal line was a really stupid decision that almost cost the Steelers six points. But for the most part, Canada didn’t hurt the Steelers and helped play to their strengths. With Broderick Jones replacing Chukwuma Okorafor at right tackle, Canada knew the Steelers had a much better run-blocking line up front.
That’s why Pittsburgh ran the ball 29 times (not including Kenny Pickett’s QB kneel), and it’s also no surprise the Steelers then had their best rushing day of the season, with 167 yards on the ground. The Steelers played with tempo when it was appropriate, helping the run game and quick passing game excel. It was the first game this season that Canada spent on the sidelines and the first game throughout his career as an offensive coordinator he was on the sidelines and not in the coaches’ booth. It’s a change that should be permanent, as Canada probably had his best game plan and play calling of the season.
Nobody’s going to say that Canada all of a sudden turned a corner and is going to be a good offensive coordinator moving forward. But he deserves credit where it’s due, and if he continues to game plan the way he did on Thursday night, the Steelers’ offense should be better if Pickett can actually put a full game together. It was definitely a promising performance, and while the offense struggled for portions of the game, it was once again more execution-based than play calling and game plan. That’s an issue the Steelers and especially Pickett need to clean up, but they’ll have a lot of time to do so with a long week ahead of them.
