A solid 10 minutes of Sunday’s ESPN NFL Countdown was dedicated to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Predictably, it revolved around the move to fire OC Matt Canada, a franchise first midseason, and if QB Kenny Pickett and this passing offense can figure things out over the next seven games. The consensus was a move was probably needed, especially given the level of frustration rising in that room, but that Pickett no longer has a “shield” in Canada to absorb the worst of the criticism.
“When you turn on the tape, what you were seeing, the dysfunction, the miscommunication, this was not an NFL offense,” said former NFL QB and current analyst Alex Smith.
In relative terms, it’s hard to find a worse offense across the board. On a per-drive basis, the Steelers rank 29th in points, 30th in yards, 31st in plays, and 31st in time of possession. Their offense hasn’t scored more than 23 points all season (the 26 they posted against Cleveland in Week Two was aided by a pair of defensive scores) and they haven’t reached 30 points in a game since last November, now more than a full year ago.
Smith urged the Steelers to utilize more play-action, citing Pittsburgh using it the third-least of any team in the NFL. His aim was to get Pickett out on the move, change the launch point, and get him into a groove.
For former head coach Rex Ryan, he is flummoxed by Pickett’s poor production.
“[Sam Ponder] put up a stat right there about the 13 touchdowns in the in 23 games as a starter. You’d have to go back 20 years to have a quarterback with a lower touchdown completion rate in that many games,” Ryan said. “Twenty years. So to me, this is it. Are you the guy or are you not?”
In 23 games (22 starts), Pickett has just 13 touchdown passes. To take Ryan’s comments a step further, according to Pro Football Reference, of quarterbacks with at least 500 passing attempts through their first 23 games, only Trent Dilfer has a lower touchdown percentage than Pickett’s 1.9 mark. Dilfer sat at 0.9, incredibly throwing five touchdowns to 30 interceptions over that span. To Pickett’s credit, he’s not turning the ball over at a high rate but he’s not making many plays either.
With frustration evident as ever following the team’s 13-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns, former NFL LB Tedy Bruschi understood the time was now for Mike Tomlin to make a move, even if not all the blame rested on Canada’s shoulders.
“What was the last straw?” Bruschi asked. “These players starting to complain publicly in the locker room. And the locker room fights.”
That’s referring to postgame comments from RB Najee Harris and others venting all their frustration following another listless performance. And yesterday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that WR Diontae Johnson chirped at coaches into the locker room, leading to a confrontation with FS Minkah Fitzpatrick. Pittsburgh reached a tipping point and Tomlin had to shake things up to relieve that tension.
Moving forward, Randy Moss wants the interim staff of Eddie Faulkner and Mike Sullivan to get the ball in their playmakers’ hands.
“They’ve been forcing the ball to Diontae Johnson last week,” Moss said. “Eight targets, only two catches. Well, you got another stud wide receiver over there too. So with this new change in offense, I wanna see if Mike Sullivan can get everybody involved.”
Moss was referring to WR George Pickens, the team’s leading receiver but held under five catches and 50 yards in every game for the last month. With the Cincinnati Bengals missing top CB Cam Taylor-Britt, there’s an opportunity for big plays. But Pittsburgh’s squandered those chances before. Moss also urged the Steelers to use RB Jaylen Warren more often after getting out-snapped and out-carried by RB Najee Harris last week despite Warren being the team’s best source of offense.
The panel agreed that if things couldn’t get figured out soon, Pickett will draw most of the heat. The turnaround starts today against the Cincinnati Bengals.
