When it comes to the state of the Pittsburgh Steelers offense, it can often be compared to the old chicken or the egg analogy. Meaning, the heavily debated topic of whether former OC Matt Canada or second-year QB Kenny Pickett was mainly responsible for the offense’s continual struggles.
This topic has been a heated one among the fan base as well as the media since the season started, having fans and analysts take sides like fans of the Twilight series do for Team Edward or Team Jacob (or whether or not you are a die-hard Journey or Queen fan as our staff here at Steelers Depot often debate).
With Canada out the door, that leaves Pickett as the logical next head to roll if the offense still continues to struggle or the man to be praised if the offense gets things going under new guidance from the combination of RB Coach Eddie Faulkner and QB Coach Mike Sullivan. Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus references this point of view for the Steelers in reaction to the news that Canada had been let go with Pittsburgh still needing to find out if Pickett can be a bona fide franchise quarterback.
“I think that right now there’s a lot of people who are jumping off the Kenny Pickett train,” Sikkema said via video from Pro Football Focus’ YouTube channel. “They’re saying like, ‘Hey, this is not the guy to lead this franchise.’ And there is at least a defense to say, ‘Well, it’s not Kenny, it’s Matt Canada. It’s his offense.’ And what you can’t have happen is you cannot get into Year Three, Year Four of a rookie contract with a quarterback and still not know whether or not he’s the guy. You have to at least move in the right direction for that to be the case. And this to me is a move where you do this to figure out what you have in Kenny Pickett.”
The offense has struggled mightily this season, and some of the blame certainly must fall on Canada’s shoulders. His offensive system often got criticized as simple, bland, and predictable with opposing defenses calling out the Steelers’ plays before the ball was even snapped. Still, Pickett has struggled too on his own accord. He’s failed to see open receivers running down the field, missed open targets due to miscommunication issues, and also run into pressure by attempting to spin out of the pocket rather than step up and make a throw under pressure.
The way Sikkema sees it, the decision to fire Canada was to remove any excuses Pickett had in the offense to allow the Steelers to truly find out whether they have their guy or if they need to start looking for a quarterback who can get the job done.
“That’s why you fire Matt Canada when it wasn’t good enough in all facets,” Sikkema said. “You wanna continue to win football games. Like that’s a part of it. But I wonder if this is maybe a decision that came from above Mike Tomlin, where it’s like, ‘Hey man, we drafted this quarterback in the first round. We still don’t even know if he’s the guy for us, because this offense that he is operating in is so flawed.’ So you have to do what you need to do to figure out whether or not Kenny Pickett is the guy for us moving forward. And I think that maybe that is what spurs such a change in the middle of the season here for the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac mentioned that it was owner Art Rooney II’s decision to give Canada his walking papers today. HC Mike Tomlin said the decision was his and his alone when asked about it during today’s press conference. Regardless of whether Tomlin was the one to fire his offensive coordinator or not, Rooney was involved to some degree as the man who signs off on final decisions. Whether he was in Tomlin’s ear to make the move to allow Pittsburgh to find out if Pickett is truly the guy we’ll likely never know.
However, Tomlin has acknowledged that the Steelers need to see more from their young quarterback to inspire confidence in him being the man moving forward. Tomlin has stood by his side every step of the way, endorsing Pickett thanks to his work ethic and ability to come up big in the clutch. Still, Pickett’s life vest has been taken off as Canada is out of the picture.
Pickett will now have to sink or swim with no one else to blame should the offense’s struggles (and his) continue.
