The Pittsburgh Steelers have gone through some unprecedented change this season. They fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada after a Week 11 loss to the Cleveland Browns. They then promoted RB coach Eddie Faulkner to interim offensive coordinator and gave the play-calling responsibilities to QB coach Mike Sullivan.
Rookie OL Spencer Anderson went on Protect The Shell podcast with former Steelers OL Derwin Gray and talked about going through this change midseason.
“I like Faulk. Faulk has kind of taken command of the whole entire offense, kind of taking the gray area out of it. Obviously we weren’t playing too well as an offense. He wanted to kind of steer through the traffic and just be open,” Anderson told Gray. “It’s become like a more open setting about, ‘Hey, I didn’t make this block,’ or ‘I thought you were gonna do that, I thought you were gonna do this.’ It’s been good for our offense because we are being more transparent with one another and stuff like that. And then Sully is doing a great job calling the plays. I think we doing well for us to have our OC get released midseason.”
The change worked well the first week against the Cincinnati Bengals with the offense gaining 421 total yards. It is hard to tell if that would have kept up the following two weeks against the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots as QB Kenny Pickett was injured in the first half of the Cardinals game. Prior to his injury, the offense had gained 166 yards through the first half. After his exit, Mitch Trubisky and the offense gained 145 yards in the second half. Against the Patriots, the Steelers had just 264 yards of total offense.
When there are multiple changes within a short period of time, it is tough to narrow down which significant change is driving the results. Anderson is not a starter and has only been with the team a short period of time, so his perspective isn’t as nuanced as an NFL veteran’s would be. That being said, his opinion seems to be in line with what Faulkner himself said he could bring to the team—attention to detail.
If Anderson is saying that Faulkner is eliminating gray area, that would imply that Canada was lacking that trait. Perhaps things were a little unclear. There have been chronic miscommunication issues this season. Some of that falls on the players and their individual preparation, but it also starts at the top with the coordinators and their preparation.
The Steelers play a crucial game against the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday. The Colts have allowed 25.4 points per game, which is the fourth-most in the league. Regardless of all the recent changes, the Steelers should be able to find ways to sustain drives and put up points against this team. If they cannot, their playoff chances and season will most likely be over.
