Matt Canada 'not privy' to his job status, 'feels pretty good' Steelers offense can get fixed

A school of thought among followers of the Pittsburgh Steelers was if a change was made at offensive coordinator, the idle week after the eighth game would be an ideal time to do it.

When the first of two practices during the bye week began Tuesday, though, Canada was on the field watching over the offense.

After the session ended, the second-year coordinator kept the same outwardly positive outlook he did last week about the Steelers offense and his role in leading it.

“I’m just working every day,” Canada said. “I feel pretty good about doing my job and getting this thing where we want it to be and getting it fixed. That’s what I’m doing.”

Matt Canada on Kenny Pickett saying the Steelers offensive players need to study more pic.twitter.com/WyURjd0stA

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) November 1, 2022

A 13-point outing during Sunday’s blowout loss at the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles dropped the Steelers to dead last in the NFL in scoring (15.0 points per game). They’re 28th in total offense (298.8 yards per game) and last in yards per play (4.7).

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Last week, Canada acknowledged that the high-profile nature of his job can make him a target for angst when things aren’t going well. He also said family and friends hear the chatter from disgruntled fans calling for Canada’s firing.

Canada was asked Tuesday if he has been given assurances he will remain the Steelers’ coordinator.

“I’m not privy to those,” Canada said. “I commented last week. I’m not naïve. My job is I call the plays, and if they don’t work, everybody can talk about why they don’t work. So that’s all I’m focusing on: our players, and we have to win some games.”

If the Steelers elect to make a change at coordinator, quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan would be the logical candidate to take over. In his second season with the Steelers, Sullivan has four seasons as an NFL offensive coordinator on his resume.

Canada allowed that the coaching staff is “all looking at” perhaps tweaking the play-calling responsibilities, noting there is some delegation of duties based on situation.

“We have coaches who their areas of expertise are used, and certain guys are in charge of third down, goal line, red zone,” Canada said.

“We just have to find a way to get a little bit better and win some games.”

Sullivan can empathize with Canada because he has been in his shoes. Sullivan was fired, along with the rest of Greg Schiano’s staff, at the end of the 2013 season when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers finished 4-12 and ranked last in the NFL in total offense.

The season before, with the same team, Sullivan was calling the plays for a top-10 offense.

“It’s definitely something that when it’s working well, it’s a thing of beauty, right?” Sullivan said. “When all things are flowing and you happen to have the right call for the right defense and the execution is there, it’s just beautiful music.

“And then other times, everything that could possibly go wrong does go wrong.”

Too often this season, the latter has been the case for the Steelers, who have had the most three-and-out drives in the NFL this season and are last in the league in points per drive (1.30) and yards per drive (26.18).

The Steelers have averaged 11.5 points in the four games since rookie Kenny Pickett took over as the starter. If there was any doubt, Sullivan confirmed Tuesday a quarterback change is not being considered — “Kenny’s our guy,” he said when asked.

So what can be done to turn things around?

“We have got to get into a rhythm,” Canada said. “The fun part about doing it is every game is different. This (particular thing) might not be working, and you thought it would, and this (particular thing) you didn’t think would be great, and it becomes a real hot thing.

“So you have to tweak around that, take players, matchups. Thought this matchup was good, whether it was or not. So every game is different. I think that’s part of it, and we’ve got a great staff of guys who all look and figure it out. We talk and see what’s best to do.”

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