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First Call: Coaching rumor has ties to Steelers OC position; Patriots a favorite to land Lamar Jackson if he leaves Ravens | TribLIVE.com
Steelers/NFL

First Call: Coaching rumor has ties to Steelers OC position; Patriots a favorite to land Lamar Jackson if he leaves Ravens

Tim Benz
Tim Benz

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich watches the action Jan. 23, 2022, during warmups before a divisional playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams in Tampa, Fla.

Monday’s “First Call” has a coaching rumor tied to the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator position. It’s NFL draft scouting season, so let’s start with a guy the Steelers noticed at the Hula Bowl.

Also, the odds are out on where Lamar Jackson may wind up if he leaves Baltimore. More details are known on the play that cost them in their playoff game in Cincinnati. And T.J. McConnell was one of the stars of the day in the NBA.

Bringing back Byron?

For now, Matt Canada is still the offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

For now.

However, Andrew Fillipponi of 93.7 The Fan tweeted that he’s hearing the Steelers may be waiting to see what happens with Byron Leftwich before committing to Canada for a third year in that position.

Leftwich is currently the offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay. He won a Super Bowl with the Buccaneers — on the coaching staff of head coach and former Steelers assistant Bruce Arians — in 2020. Leftwich was a quarterback under Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh in 2008 and again between 2010-12.

But there are reports that he may be fired after a rough 2022-23 campaign. The Bucs lost their first-round playoff game versus the Dallas Cowboys on Monday by a final score of 31-14. It wasn’t a pretty night for Leftwich’s offense. They were shutout until the very end of the third quarter.

If the Steelers do want Leftwich, they’d have to intentionally overlook the Bucs offensive results this season. They only averaged 18.4 points per game, 25th in the NFL. The Steelers were 26th at 18.1.

Tampa’s rushing attack was the worst in football, at 76.9 yards per game. But their passing offense averaged 269.8 yards per game, second best in the NFL.

To be fair, the Buccaneers were heavily injured this year, and Tom Brady’s age may have finally caught up to him. The likes of pass catchers Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Cameron Brate, along with linemen Tristan Wirfs, Donovan Smith, Ryan Jensen and Josh Wells have all missed time this year.

Let the fun begin

It’s time to start tracking who the Steelers are tracking in advance of the NFL draft.

One such player may be Montana cornerback Justin Ford. According to The Draft Network’s Ryan Fowler, the Steelers met with him at Saturday’s Hula Bowl.

The former Louisville Cardinal led the country with interceptions in 2021 with nine. He only had two picks in eight games this season. But he’s got the right size, at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds.

Current Steelers corner Cameron Sutton is an unrestricted free agent. James Pierre is a restricted free agent. And the futures of oft-injured corners William Jackson and Ahkello Witherspoon are uncertain.

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The line on Lamar

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson had a cryptic quote on his Instagram account after his team was eliminated from playoff competition Sunday.

Jackson doesn’t have a contract for next year. But the former MVP can still be franchise-tagged twice by Baltimore. As a result, many wondered what the meaning was behind that post.

SportsLine has already posted odds as to what team may be the next to employ Jackson. Given the struggles of Zach Wilson and the gaping hole at the QB position in New York, they are listing the Jets as the gambling favorites.

They are followed by the Falcons, Raiders and Panthers.

Meanwhile, Sports Betting.AG has a similar opinion on the Jets, Falcons and Raiders. But they have the Patriots as a 4-1 favorite.

Betting on the Patriots would be a leap of faith, presuming that the franchise would essentially be giving up on Mac Jones.

Harbaugh on Huntley

Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh didn’t hold back when talking about what went wrong Sunday on that 98-yard fumble recovery by the Cincinnati Bengals.

The AFC playoff game was tied 17-17 with under 12 minutes to go in the fourth quarter. That’s when Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley tried to leap the pile at the goal line from a yard away.

Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson stripped the ball. Teammate Sam Hubbard scooped it up and went the distance for a go-ahead touchdown.

After the game, Harbaugh revealed that wasn’t how the play was supposed to happen.

“On the quarterback sneak, we felt like we had a good call. It was a push sneak play,” Harbaugh said via Sports Illustrated. “It just wasn’t executed. … Tyler went over the top. It’s a burrow play. Tyler’s gotta go low on that. That’s the way the play’s designed. We felt like that was the best call. We just didn’t execute it right.”

Running back J.K. Dobbins wasn’t happy with that play either. He stated that he should’ve gotten the ball at some point in that goal-line sequence and that Huntley “shouldn’t have been in that situation.”

T.J.’s big day

Chartiers Valley graduate T.J. McConnell had a huge afternoon for the Indiana Pacers in Milwaukee on Monday.

McConnell put up a career-high 29 points along with nine assists, five rebounds and three steals. Twenty-five of those points came in the first half.

McConnell was very efficient in the process. The former Duquesne Duke was 11 of 16 from the field, four of four from three-point land, and three of three from the foul line.

Unfortunately for McConnell and the Pacers, they lost 132-119 to the Bucks.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.

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