Steelers players sound frustrated with Matt Canada’s offense

Pittsburgh Steelers players are clearly frustrated with the offense, and that’s on coordinator Matt Canada.

Never has a man failed upwards like Matt Canada, whose latest success story came in 2016, when he was the OC of the Pitt Panthers and a finalist for the Broyles Award, given to the top assistant in college football.

2016 was a long time ago — I was fresh out of college. Yet, Canada has lived off this success for far too long, seemingly getting better opportunities after leaving at an inopportune moment. What’s next, head coach of the Dallas Cowboys?

On Sunday, the Steelers offense managed just 14 points. This was a week after a brutal offensive performance in a win over the Bengals, and a season after Pittsburgh pinned all the blame for a lackluster system on their future Hall-of-Fame quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger.

Big Ben has plenty of personal flaws, but how did Canada get an entire fanbase to agree with that narrative? The man is a magician.

Steelers players frustrated with offensive play-calling

Three offensive leaders for the Steelers all showed displeasure with the play-calling. The following quotes, picked out by The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly, tell the story.

“We have to call the right plays to get down the field in the right ways,” Chase Claypool said.

“We can only do what they tell us to do and execute it,” Diontae Johnson said.

“Call concepts to get receivers there,” Mitch Trubisky followed.

Johnson admitted to getting emotional on the sidelines, which the CBS cameras picked up live. He was unhappy with his lack of targets downfield, which isn’t unusual of wide receivers.

All three players are spot on, and it speaks to a greater distrust between the offensive coordinator and the star players in regards to the system they are being forced to run. Kenny Pickett or not, things will not get much better in Pittsburgh unless Canada makes some drastic changes before Thursday.