Kenny Pickett's simple quote is proof Matt Canada should never work in NFL again
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The Pittsburgh Steelers offense was absolutely horrendous under their former offensive coordinator Matt Canada. Canada wasn't qualified for the job and he only really received the promotion because the Steelers have a tendency to promote internal options before exploring outside coaching. This proved to be a horrible mistake.
The Steelers offense over the last few years -- since drafting Kenny Pickett -- could be described as safe and basic, to keep things nice. Third and 10? Screen pass. Fourth and inches? Let's run a halfback toss with the 240-pound bruising running back. A majority of Pickett's passes as a Steeler were made within five or ten yards of the line of scrimmage. Pickett performed best under a two minute, no huddle style offense at the end of games. It took the play-calls out of Canada's hands.
Pittsburgh began an offensive overhaul by firing Canada during the season last year, which led to an improved offense. They also completely revamped their quarterback room by replacing Mason Rudolph and Pickett with Russell Wilson and Justin Fields.
Kenny Pickett's simple comments should bury Matt Canada's career as an NFL OC
One aspect of Pickett's game that was never featured was his mobility. This is something that Pickett is seeing a ton of with the Philadelphia Eagles and Jalen Hurts ahead of him. It's also something that will be featured in Pittsburgh's offense once Fields takes over.
Pickett made a few comments about the running game that points fingers directly at his former offensive coordinator, Matt Canada.
"I never had it at the NFL level. I think that's an element I can add. You can see in practice taking advantage of it where you can get 10, 15 yards — those are big plays and it hurts a defense in a third-down situation. ...That's been a lot of fun, getting involved in the RPO game. I haven't done that in a long time, finding easy completions and easy ways to get explosives," Pickett said.
Yikes.
Basic analysts could look at the Steelers game film from the Canada era and break down exactly how simple and horrible it actually was. Multiple times throughout the year, opposing teams commented on how brutal it was, and there was good reason for it.
With a quarterback that could run, two dynamic running backs and explosive options like George Pickens, there really was no excuse for the offensive execution.
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