Using someone other than your nominal offensive coordinator to call plays during games is not a novel idea. In fact, many head coaches today call their own plays, though it’s less common for another assistant coach to do the job. Still, unusual things can happen when you fire a coordinator midseason, as the Pittsburgh Steelers are finding out for the first time.
For many, the firing of Canada felt like addition by subtraction, and it’s no wonder given that they ended a years-long streak of failing to put up 400 yards in their first game without him. Running backs coach Eddie Faulkner has taken the mantle as interim offensive coordinator, but it’s quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan calling the plays—in the long run.
Faulkner did tell reporters yesterday that he “absolutely” suggested plays to Sullivan on multiple occasions throughout the game, via transcript provided by the team’s media department. Last week, he said that he did not want to interfere with Sullivan as the play caller, but he considers this a harmonious relationship.
“It was fantastic. It couldn’t have been better”, he said about how the game flowed with the two working together. “If I was over there telling Sully, ‘Hey, let’s do this’, he was right on board with it. It wasn’t like any sort of pushback. It was awesome”.
Generally speaking, there shouldn’t be a ton of pushback because the game-planning process is a collaborative one. The plays that are on the play sheet during the game are the ones that were worked on and mutually agreed upon during the week. That doesn’t mean everyone will agree when and in what contexts to use them, but even that will have been discussed in advance as well.
“Sully called a great game. Sully was awesome in that game. I’m just really excited about the trajectory and what’s going on”, Faulkner added. “I heard some of the guys in their comments say the play is coming in quicker. I don’t know. I just feel like he just called a good game. I give him credit in that game for sure”.
Indeed, Faulkner was very deferential in his comments, passing the credit, for example, to offensive line coach Pat Meyer for the success of the run game. That is one of the qualities that led head coach Mike Tomlin to give him the interim offensive coordinator title.
But it’s Sullivan who has had the in-game experience working that role on Sundays, which is why he was most comfortable dividing the labor in that regard. On the whole, there weren’t a lot of things to complain about with the play selection. The execution is still a work in progress, but the fact that there is actually progress being made is…well, progress.
