It wouldn't have been a Mike Tomlin press conference Tuesday if we didn't get any of his classic "Tomlinisms," and the Steelers' coach made sure to use one of his old favorites when describing the challenges faced by his offensive coordinator, Matt Canada.
There's no doubt that the offense was limited in its roster this year with an aged Ben Roethlisberger, a young and inexperienced offensive line and four rookies who started on the unit for most of the season. It's something that Canada tried to compensate for, and something Tomlin acknowledged Tuesday when he whipped up his Tomlinism.
"I think when you’ve got red paint, you paint your barn red," Tomlin said when asked about the Steelers' personnel challenges. "And I think that not only transpires in-season, but it transpires in every component of the journey. We went into the season understanding that we had new and young people that comprise significant components of that unit. So obviously, those discussions were ongoing not only at certain points of the year, but at the outset."
There's no doubt that a 39-year old quarterback who lacks mobility would be hindered with the offensive line situation, and that it would take a while for the team's rookies and free agent additions would take time to coalesce with Roethlisberger. Canada was tasked with making that offense work, and ultimately, he didn't do that. The Steelers finished 21st in points scored, 23rd in total yards, 15th in passing yards and 29th in rushing yards. But considering the unit's limitations, his offense did have some of the top performers at their positions as Najee Harris' 1200 rushing yards was fourth-most in the NFL and Pat Freiermuth's seven touchdown receptions was sixth-most among tight ends.
But that still doesn't excuse the Steelers scoring 20 points or more in just eight of their games. Tomlin's assertion about the Steelers working with "red paint" was simply an acknowledgment that their limitations were a reality, which feeds into why he sees opportunity in the future of Canada still calling plays for the offense in 2022.
"I'm optimistic about Matt, and what he's capable of doing," Tomlin said when asked about Canada's job performance. "I acknowledged that we took a step back. There are some obvious tangible reasons why that occurred. So, I'm not going to get into all of that. I'm not going to seek comfort in that. We've got to be better. We intend to be and that's going to require a lot of planning and work, players and coaches."
That's not to say that Tomlin sees the offensive lack of production as acceptable, just that Canada's machinations have potential to produce better results in the future.
"Yeah, I'm not expressing satisfaction with any component of it," Tomlin said to expand on his optimism in Canada. "I'm just acknowledging that he brings things to the table that are attractive, and we need to be better. And we will be, that's a component of it as well. But I'm not acknowledging satisfaction with any component of what it is that we've done as I sit here today."
The truth is the number of issues Canada had to manage his offense through leaked into every facet of the game. Whether it was Kendrick Green and Trai Turner missing blocks in A-gap to allow pressure on Roethlisberger, Roethlisberger missing his targets, receivers running wrong routes or dropping passes, each plagued the offense even when Canada's play calls matched well with opposing defensive calls.
Here was a big third down opportunity early in the Steelers' eventual playoff loss to the Chiefs. Notice how Roethlisberger's throw was beyond the sticks, unlike most of his third down passes this season, but Freiermuth missed Roethlisberger's audible call at the line. The loud crowd at Arrowhead Stadium made it hard on the rookie, who looked confused when Roethlisberger's pass floated outside as he looked to his inside shoulder:
According to Pro Football Focus, Roethlisberger's passes that traveled outside the numbers more than 10 yards resulted in 50 completions of 125 attempts for 1,001 yards, nine touchdowns and six interceptions for a passer rating of 72.78. But it wasn't just about Freiermuth and others running the wrong routes. It was also because of how Roethlisberger's arms deteriorated to be even worse as the season continued.
Here's another play in the regular-season finale when Chase Claypool beat his man on an out route, but the ball sailed on Roethlisberger without Claypool ever having a chance:
Those are two plays when the Chiefs and Ravens both called defenses that were susceptible to outside throws, but didn't work because of different reasons.
The simplest place for Roethlisberger to attack that might be better for his arm was the middle of the field. PFF recorded his stats throwing down the middle of the field beyond 10 yards to be 27 completions on 59 attempts for 543 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. Roethlisberger couldn't consistently find those routes in the middle part of the field, and even when he did he couldn't consistently target them.
Watch these deep crossing routes between Diontae Johnson and Ray-Ray McCloud, where both got a step or two on their defenders, but Roethlisberger's throw was wildly off and almost intercepted:
These inconsistencies both outside and inside the hashes of the field made no real threat for a defense to fear either way. This allowed defenses to focus on passes under ten yards over the middle, where Roethlisberger attempted 203 passes, more than all his passes beyond ten yards throughout the season.
This was where Canada had to be more creative to find opportunities to get Roethlisberger easier targets over the middle for decent gains. And when he did in important early moments of the Steelers' playoff loss to the Chiefs, the Steelers still didn't capitalize. This third down slant to Johnson was the perfect combination of him winning inside leverage with his route and only having a linebacker inside of him to make the tackle after the catch. Had Johnson pulled the pass in, he would've had one man to beat for a big play, but he didn't even get to that point:
This is where the question about keeping Canada in the organization comes down to whether the personnel wasn't good enough to execute an adequate game plan week-to-week or if Canada's concepts didn't put the receivers and weapons in the best positions to succeed.
The best coordinators and play callers design offenses around the players available to them, and Canada certainly tried to do that, but never found any rhythm with his group. This goes back to Tomlin's point about personnel and trying to use the tools available to Canada to make the best of their roster. The group's best players in Harris and Freiermuth drew attention once defenses saw their potential, and it thusly came down to Roethlisberger finding ways to complete passes to other receivers.
That became even harder for Roethlisberger to process with the offensive line issues the Steelers faced with pressure often getting to him in the pocket. Even when pressure wasn't apparent, Roethlisberger's internal clock was sped up and led to missed opportunities that were drawn up by Canada to get open receivers within his throwing range.
Here's another third down miss where the distance was a manageable five yards, but Roethlisberger rushed his throw to be a deep pass to Claypool down the sideline. The throw was short and inside, never letting Claypool have a real chance at it. But had Roethlisberger waited just another half-second, JuJu Smith-Schuster's cut back to the outside made him wide open with plenty of running room for what would've been an easy first down:
The problem for this offense was always going to be that it didn't have enough of a strength in either department to rest its hat on.
Harris and Freiermuth were leaders in their positions and between them their significant contributions played a major role in at least 6 of the Steelers' 9 wins. But without a quarterback who could deliver consistent reads and passes for four quarters and without an offensive line that could win the line of scrimmage consistently, this was where Canada was doomed to struggle.
There's not too many coordinators that could turn all those deficiencies into some potent group, which is why Canada is being given the benefit of the doubt. There were plenty of passing concepts over the year that could've worked if a myriad of mistakes didn't often get in the way. Depending on how the Steelers move forward in free agency with a huge chunk of money to spend and what the focuses are on this NFL Draft class, Canada could get a chance to mold an offense that at least has one reliable strength, and maybe even more.
But these pardons of his unit's failure to produce won't last much longer after next season. Whichever way the Steelers go with their personnel on offense, it will be up to Canada to devise a plan around maximizing those strengths and minimizing those weaknesses. He tried that in 2021, but eventually the weaknesses caught up with the group. Most coordinators would get a second chance to prove themselves after dealing with as many roster questions as 2021's offense provided, but Canada should be well aware of the short leash he's on next season and the need to establish some sort of identity.