The Pittsburgh Steelers played musical chairs with the coaching staff this week. Gone is offensive coordinator Matt Canada. In his place steps running backs coach Eddie Faulkner, who will run the unit during the week. But it will be quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan calling the plays on Sundays.
C Mason Cole was no crusader for Canada’s canning, rather blaming the players’ performance. He expressed disappointment that their execution wasn’t good enough. But his aim is to look forward, not back, and now he’s ready to see what the new order has in store for them.
“It’ll be good. I’m excited for ‘Sully’ to call plays and see what that can do for us”, he told reporters this week, via Teresa Varley for the team’s website. “And just in one meeting with ‘Faulk’ as kind of the lead man, it was good to see the leadership, I’m looking forward to it”.
Sullivan has had a couple of stints in the NFL as an offensive coordinator and as a play-caller, even if they weren’t necessarily terribly successful. He was also on bad teams, arguably surrounded by more talent on the Steelers’ roster now, though QB Kenny Pickett remains a rather glaring question mark.
As for Faulkner, this is a new role for him, but one he has arguably been groomed for since he got here. Mike Tomlin had been high on him since scouting his players at NC State, giving him his first NFL job in 2019. Now he has a chance to show his skills in a broader capacity.
But for our purposes, our exposure will be primarily to Sullivan, since the most tangible role of the offensive coordinator is typically calling plays. That is precisely why some reporters have naively referred to Sullivan as the “for all intents and purposes” offensive coordinator when he’s not, since they ignore all the other work that goes into building and preparing an offense.
Yet that doesn’t change the reality that it will be our primary exposure. We will be inclined to judge what we see on the field based on Sullivan’s play selection more than we will the game plan from which it is being called that Faulkner put together. However, one also cannot ignore the significance of the role.
“It’ll just be different having someone else call plays”, Cole admitted. “Having ‘Sully’ back there and working close with (quarterback) Kenny (Pickett) will be good. Just excited for our group, our offensive group, to go out there and play hard”.
The duo’s first test will be against a Cincinnati Bengals defense that hasn’t been very good. They rank 30th in yards allowed and 20th in points allowed, having survived largely on the production of takeaways—sound familiar?
But like the Bengals’ offense, the Steelers have been very good at protecting the football on their own offensive side. If there is one thing Sullivan and Faulkner must ensure to maintain, it is the ball security that allowed them to remain competitive more weeks than not. Just find a way to do a little more in between.
