5 things learned about Steelers: Matt Canada's offense takes shape against Bengals

Five things we learned from Steelers 23, Bengals 20:

1. Motion sensors

The mobility that Mitch Trubisky was supposed to bring to the Steelers offense — a trait that Ben Roethlisberger lacked in his final seasons — was on display in the opener. So was the constant motion and moving pockets that was anticipated from Matt Canada’s system in his second year as offensive coordinator.

Growing pains were evident.

The offense mustered just one touchdown on 15 possessions and produced multiple first downs on one drive before overtime. The running game scuffled to the extent that Canada called Chase Claypool’s number six times on jet sweeps/end arounds, and he ended up leading the Steelers with 36 rushing yards.

Canada’s imprint was noticeable from the first snap when Trubisky tossed a shovel pass to Claypool.

Another wrinkle was a screen to No. 2 tight end Zach Gentry that resulted in a 32-yard completion to the Bengals 9 and set up Najee Harris’ 1-yard TD catch. Canada also broke out the flea-flicker in the first quarter which resulted in Trubisky completing a 31-yard pass to tight end Pat Freiermuth to the Bengals 3. Emblematic of the offense’s struggles, the Steelers had to settle for a field goal on this possession.

Trubisky averaged 5.1 yards per attempt — Roethlisberger averaged 6.2 a year ago — and finished with a pedestrian 78.2 passer rating.

2. Slow starters

One of the goals for the offense this season was to start faster than it did in 2021.

Over the final eight games of last season, the offense produced just nine points in the opening quarter and went a five-game stretch without getting any. Moreover, the last touchdown the offense scored in the opening quarter was Week 10 against Detroit. And it was provided courtesy of a Mason Rudolph touchdown pass.

The defense chipped in with Minkah Fitzpatrick’s 31-yard interception return for a touchdown less than three minutes into the game Sunday, and the offense did contribute a field-goal drive to take a 10-3 lead into the second quarter.

The Steelers ultimately got a touchdown before halftime to take a 17-6 lead into the locker room. That represented improvement from last year when the Steelers averaged 6.7 points in the first half for the season. Only the 4-13 New York Giants were worse in 2021.

The problem Sunday occurred in the second half as the Steelers totaled 64 yards and managed four first downs. After the defense made a fourth-and-2 stop with 1:51 to play, the Steelers were forced to use a timeout because of an injury to Harris. They gave the ball back after just 24 seconds of elapsed time and left the Bengals with one timeout remaining.

3. Defending the run defense

At first blush, it looked like the Steelers run defense picked up where it left off in 2021 when they allowed the most rushing yards in the NFL.

Joe Mixon reeled off a 31-yard run en route to an 82-yard performance. Joe Burrow scrambled for a 23-yard gain, and the Bengals totaled 133 yards on the ground. Upon a deeper dissection, though, the Steelers did show improvement at stopping the run.

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It took Mixon 27 carries to get his 82 yards, and the Bengals averaged 3.9 yards per carry on 34 total attempts. To put that in perspective, only six teams last year allowed opponents to average less than 4.0 yards per carry for the season. The Steelers, of course, ranked last by allowing 5.0 yards per carry and were the only team to exceed 4.7.

Mixon had 14 runs that resulted in gains of 2 yards or less, including five runs for negative yardage. That’s no small feat for the Steelers considering Mixon rushed for a career-high 1,205 yards last season, the third time in his five-year career he surpassed 1,000.

4. No daylight

Harris left after his 10th carry of the game resulted in a 2-yard loss, giving him 23 yards rushing. With two catches for 3 yards, he totaled 26 yards from scrimmage although one of his receptions went for a 1-yard touchdown.

Harris had 6 rushing yards on four carries in the first half but picked it up a bit after intermission when he had runs spanning 11 and 8 yards. He had three runs that went for negative yardage, including one when the Steelers brought in tackle Trent Scott to serve as an extra blocking tight end.

The lack of running room was hardly surprising considering the way the offensive line was slow to jell in the preseason. One of the few positives for the quintet of Mason Cole, James Daniels, Kevin Dotson, Chuks Okorafor and James Daniels was Trubisky was sacked just once, and that happened when he lost 2 yards after running out of bounds. Trubisky also was hit five times compared to the Steelers hitting Joe Burrow on 11 occasions.

5. Getting physical

When the defense is on the field for 94 plays, mistakes are bound to happen. The Steelers’ secondary wasn’t immune and the evidence was in the form of five personal fouls. Ironically, all of the infractions were against players who had interceptions in the game.

Minkah Fitzpatrick was called for unnecessary roughness twice in the second half and could have been flagged another time for a hit that concussed Bengals receiver Tee Higgins. It was all part of a physical day for Fitzpatrick, who led the Steelers with 14 tackles, had the opening interception return for a touchdown and burst through the line to block the potential winning extra point late in regulation.

Ahkello Witherspoon had an interception in Bengals territory midway through the fourth quarter and was flagged for pass interference early in overtime.

A pass interference call against Cam Sutton negated an interception, although the Steelers got a turnover on the next play. Sutton later got his interception but he was called for holding late in the fourth quarter away from the play, and this infraction negated a 10-yard sack by T.J. Watt.