This Thanksgiving, the Pittsburgh Steelers decided that they would give every fan’s distant uncle something with which to dominate the dinner conversation. Rather than awkwardly try to explain any new developments in your social life, Steelers fans were “rewarded” after weeks of a putrid offense with the hot topic of OC Matt Canada being fired. And everyone around the team has an opinion on it. That includes former Steelers like Terry Hanratty, who was a quarterback for the team from 1969-75 and a former second-round pick who was supposed to be Terry Bradshaw before Terry Bradshaw.
On the newest episode of his Hanratty’s Huddle podcast, Hanratty gave his thoughts on the decision to fire Canada, stating that it was obvious that he and Pickett weren’t on the same page. As an example, Hanratty pointed to the team’s poor screen game.
‘When you throw a screen to be pretty much guaranteed a success, you have to throw it against a zone defense because if you throw it against man-to-man, and you want to throw a screen to your running back, there’s a guy on the defense who is watching him,” Hanratty said. “That’s his man.”
He pointed out that he saw the Steelers run screens against man coverage multiple times against the Browns, putting the blame on Canada rather than Pickett.
“You have to teach the quarterback how to read defenses,” Hanratty said. “And if you think it’s man, you get out. There are other successful plays out there.”
Hanratty also tore into the offense for not having players run past the sticks on third down, as well as running plays on first down that set the offense up for second and long and third and long. After watching this offense for the past few years, I can’t say any of this is incorrect. Both the screen game and the first-down offense were two of the most noticeable issues with Matt Canada’s play calling. On the year, Pittsburgh is a bottom-six team in first-down offense, averaging less than five yards per play. The blame isn’t totally on him, but like Hanratty said, it’s his job to properly prepare the players. If they aren’t prepared, then it is his fault.
Ultimately, Hanratty falls back on his playing experience to give his final opinion. During those times, there was no offensive coordinator with quarterbacks calling their own plays. Hanratty believes that the game has become too intricate, and that there is too much going on now with NFL offenses. The notion is debatable but a product of the modern world where every play and route are detailed to the letter (except maybe in Canada’s offense).
Should quarterbacks be calling their own plays? Has the game become too contrived? If you find yourself veering toward an uncomfortable conversation this holiday season, try using any of these questions to change the subject to something just as frustrating but far less painful. Hopefully next Thanksgiving we’re celebrating an offense that can score more than 10 points a game.
