The Pittsburgh Steelers offense run by Matt Canada and Kenny Pickett was not exactly the pinnacle of football. They went a comical amount of games while producing relatively few yards or points, the defense keeping them winning. Steelers WR Calvin Austin III admits things improved at the end of last season—when Canada and Pickett were sidelined.
“It did make things a little difficult”, Austin said on 92.9 ESPN recently, about working through the quarterback and coordinator situation the Steelers faced last year. “Just because when you go through three quarterbacks, no matter what team you are, it’s gonna be some ups and downs. It was just difficult because the offense, we didn’t really catch our rhythm until probably the last four games of the season”.
Pickett started from the beginning up until his injury, but the Steelers left him on the bench for Mason Rudolph. Mitch Trubisky completely flopped in between, which followed the firing of Canada.
“With offense, that’s the most important thing, is rhythm. Once we started clicking, things started flowing”, Austin said about the improvement over the final stretch with Rudolph at quarterback, Pickett on the bench, and Canada long gone. “I think the continuity and the rhythm, we had to get that down pat. … It just made it difficult for the entire offense, and for anybody to just truly thrive. But once we got the quarterback situation and everything settled, I think we started playing some of our best ball”.
The Steelers hired Matt Canada as quarterbacks coach in 2020 and promoted him to offensive coordinator in 2021. They drafted QB Kenny Pickett the following year, but he regressed in his second year. Most of his highlights came late in the fourth quarter, off-script comeback efforts, but it was not enough.
The end of the season with Mason Rudolph playing quarterback showed the Steelers what the offense should look like. By then, they already fired Canada, but at that point they also elected to keep Pickett on the bench. Head coach Mike Tomlin elected to start Rudolph in a must-win finale, and then to start in the postseason.
Over the first 14 games, the Steelers ranked 28th in passing yards per game and 16th in rushing yards. They also ranked 28th in points per game. Over the final three games, they ranked 16th, 3rd, and 5th, respectively. Albeit in a loss, and putting up 17 points, the offense also put up over 300 yards of offense in the playoffs.
Now, not only are Kenny Pickett and Matt Canada gone from the Steelers, but so is Mason Rudolph. The Steelers have Russell Wilson (and Justin Fields) at quarterback, and they hired Arthur Smith as offensive coordinator.
Will Wilson and Smith have that much more success for the Steelers than Pickett and Canada? Will the wide receivers like Calvin Austin III be much happier working with this current group? All I know is that it’s hard to imagine things being worse than they were last year. And Rudolph helped show everybody that, including the Steelers themselves.
