Oftentimes during the Matt Canada tenure, one of the biggest complaints about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense was that there was no rhyme or reason as to why the Steelers were — or were not — attempting to do things throughout games from a snap-to-snap basis, let alone drive by drive.
That issue — along with many others — led to the Steelers firing Canada last Tuesday, ending the experiment after two-and-a-half seasons.
Then, on Sunday in Week 12 against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Steelers’ offense looked as good as it’s looked in years, racking up 421 total yards, connecting on a handful of explosive plays in the pass game and generating a pair of explosive runs.
Though Pittsburgh scored just one touchdown in the 16-10 win, the offense showed signs of being a unit that can win games moving forward, according to former NFL defensive back and Hall of Famer Ronde Barber.
Appearing on the Chasin’ It podcast with former NFL QB Chase Daniel and co-host Trey Wingo, Barber praised the new-look Steelers’ offense under co-offensive coordinators Eddie Faulkner and Mike Sullivan.
“Good offenses to me, at least the ones that I played against, are about process. Like, what is your process? Obviously you have a game plan, but can you tie it all together? Are you running the ball to throw it? Are you throwing it to run it, et cetera, et cetera. And you could tell that the, their new offensive coordinator was like, Najee Harris needs the football,” Barber said to Daniel and Wingo, according to video via the show’s YouTube Page. “And they run for a hundred yards. It opened up the middle of the field in the passing game.
“Kenny Pickett, at least the parts of the game that I saw, looked way more confident throwing the football over the middle field. I mean, it helps to have [Pat] Freiermuth back obviously at tight end, to give you that option. But the quarterback looked better.”
Pickett definitely looked better, there is no denying that. He played with great timing and accuracy, made good decisions with the football and had arguably the best game of his career.
It was rather telling that he did all of that in the first game post-Canada, too.
Though questions still remain about Pickett and the Steelers’ offense moving forward, at least for Barber, Sunday’s showing against the Bengals was progress for Pittsburgh.
“…I have my doubts [with Pickett]. Chase, you played the position a long time. The dude makes you worried that he can’t make the big throws when he needs to. But I think they [Steelers coaches] made it easier on him today. And it showed,” Barber added, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “Obviously they’re gonna play great defense, so you’re always gonna be in games. What you want is not to have to put it on a quarterback for him to have to win it all the time.
“And today, even though it was a close game score wise, it felt like an offense that could win. It hadn’t felt that way all year. They were winning in spite of their offense earlier in the year.”
Pittsburgh certainly was winning in spite of the offense — for the most part — throughout the season. Granted, Pickett had some late-game heroics in wins over the Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans, but it was far too inconsistent, and the team leaned so heavily on the defense.
Now though, coming out of the win over the Bengals, there’s some hope and belief in the offense without Canada calling plays. Things might not change all that dramatically for the Steelers’ offense, but there was a more concerted effort to be aggressive, take shots down the field, attack the middle of the field in the passing game and get Harris consistent work in the run game.
Guess what? It worked. Let’s see if they can replicate that formula moving forward now.
