The Pittsburgh Steelers won their Week 12 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals by a score of 16-10. The tight score didn’t tell the story of the game, as the Steelers exploded for 421 yards of total offense. This was in the first game following the firing of offensive coordinator Matt Canada, so naturally there is a level of excitement building around this team. The mantra addition by subtraction seems to be playing out in a small sample size, but it’s hard to ignore the timing of it all with 400-plus yards never being reached under Canada in over two-and-a-half seasons.
Former NFL QB Brady Quinn, talked about the Steelers on his show Two Pros and a Cup of Joe on Fox Sports Radio following their win on Sunday. He started with talking about the benefits of having the quarterbacks coach call the plays.
“If you are an OC and you’re not in your quarterback room, you’re doing your team a disservice,” Quinn said. “That guy needs to be an extension of you out there on the field, and if he knows exactly how you are thinking about things, then he is going to be able to execute it and explain that too to guys on the field in that moment. So you can see why it worked in a one game sample size, but I’m really optimistic.”
Kenny Pickett was quick to credit both Mike Sullivan and Eddie Faulkner after the game. Pickett attempted 33 passes, completing 24 of them for 278 yards. Other than being held without a touchdown pass, this was probably Pickett’s most complete game as a passer in his young career. He took shots in the middle of the field, spread the ball around to eight different targets, and completed multiple explosive plays with 20 or more air yards.
“Pickett threw some dimes,” Quinn said. “You see it and go, there it is. It’s been there the whole time, and now you’re finally starting to see it. It’s good to see them reaching their potential.”
The sample size is too small to come to any hard conclusions, but the timing of the turnaround with the firing of Canada is hard to write off as a coincidence. If the offense can sustain its success against some very beatable teams coming up on the schedule, then maybe it is time to start believing. The Steelers are currently 7-4 with a 3-1 record in the toughest division in football, after all.
