Whether or not it's happening on the football field, the Steelers are at least on the same page with how they address the media.
Mike Tomlin said Tuesday the offense needs to be better, but has improved each week. Mitch Trubisky echoed a similar sentiment Wednesday, but harped more on how plays have been available and the offense just needs to execute better. To top it off, Matt Canada's media availability was more substantial than normal.
"I think Coach Tomlin does such a good job of having a singular focus on where we're at," Canada said. "I'll probably say it five times in this little fun session we're having: We're not scoring enough points. Until we do that, we have to keep going, keep going and keep going, and there's a million reasons why. We just have to keep doing it to find ways to get our guys the ball and make those plays at critical times."
Immediately after answering this question, Canada was asked to divulge any of those reasons the offense hasn't been able to put up enough points. There's good reason for the question considering how abysmal the offense has been during the first three weeks of the season.
At first, Canada immediately shut the question down with a simple "no." It's not atypical for Canada to shut down questions. As we've seen previously, media availability with him can involve a lot of words with little substance.
But after a few seconds, Canada flipped a switch and provided the largest peak behind the curtain we've seen from him this year. And just as Trubisky isn't pointing the finger at Canada, the Steelers' offensive coordinator is not going to cast blame on anyone else. In fact, there was tangible ownership by Canada for the offensive struggles over the first three weeks of the season.
"I'm not gonna come up here and say this should have happened, that should have happened," Canada said. "I'm in charge, we're not producing. So I'm good with that. I don't want that to come off being short. (But) I'm not going to do that. We had a great meeting Monday. We're not where we want to be. The players see it. We know where we are. We coach in that room, but I'm not gonna do that out here. That probably came off short, and I shouldn't have been that way. Your question is fair, but I'm not going to do that out here. We do that inside. I feel really good that we've made the corrections we need to make. But until we see it on Sundays, it doesn't matter."
Optimism is one thing. With how minuscule the improvements have been on offense, some people might call it blind optimism. Accountability, however, is a game-changer. When the quarterback has simply not seen open targets, when the running backs aren't finding open holes or are fumbling the football, or when receivers are dropping passes, Canada openly claiming, "I'm in charge, we're not producing" is the first sign of true progress.
The stats aren't great. The Steelers' offense is 19th in points per game, 23rd in rushing, 28th in passing and 30th in yards per play. But, given the optimism Tomlin and Trubisky have both displayed this week, I wanted to ask Canada what tangible improvements have taken place thus far.
"I would probably focus on the offensive line," Canada said. "Going back to coming out of the Jacksonville preseason game, where everything was 'oh, my gosh,' I think our line has gotten better every week."
And to think, the offensive line was the biggest concern of on this entire roster entering the season.
Accountability can go a long way. When coaches aren't coaching, setting a precedent for how to conduct oneself is just as crucial for establishing an identity or culture.
The Steelers sure aren't happy with their 1-2 record. We don't need Tomlin's "hacked off" line from Tuesday to know that. Here on the South Side, there has been more urgency in practice. Players aren't happy with the slow start. Neither are the coaches. But, as Canada mentioned previously, it all doesn't matter until they get results on Sundays.
And that attitude coming from a position of leadership is a welcomed change for a team that needs change.
"Everybody wants to win. Everybody wants the ball. This is an emotional, violent game played by violent men, and you have to make plays at the right time," Canada said. "We all have our part in that. As long as we keep doing our job, it's going to come around. We have great faith in that over the long haul. With all the skill we have, all the players we have and all the talent we have, we're going to get in the right place at the right time. Never soon enough as we stand here right now coming off two losses. It hadn't happened. I have great faith it will. Just gonna keep working at it."
MORE FROM THE SOUTH SIDE
• Canada was asked about the play where Chukwuma Okorafor was called for being illegally downfield, wiping out a 35-yard gain by Jaylen Warren on a shovel pass. There has been plenty of debate of whether Okorafor was actually downfield. When Tomlin was asked Tuesday if a player can be downfield on a shovel pass, all he responded with was, "Evidently, yes."
Specifically, Canada was asked if the Steelers need to execute that play differently to avoid another penalty when they run it again. He chose his words wisely to avoid risk of being fined for any criticism the officiating on the call. He simply said, "We're not going to change anything about that play. The way that play was executed, we executed it exactly as we wanted it executed."
• The running game was a key focus during the meeting with Canada, as a successful rushing attack coincided with the most success this offense has had so far this year. Jaylen Warren has complemented Najee Harris quite well this season, and earned a bit of praise from Canada Thursday.
"If he was gonna give us more, he probably would have been drafted by someone," Canada said. "When you look at what he's done, how he's come in ... He can run it. He can catch it. Protection has been really, really good. I'm really happy with him. I'm excited for his growth and continued growth."
• On the other side of the ball, the run defense is clearly a point of emphasis in the locker room. Cam Heyward spoke about it at length today, and provided no excuses for the play despite the number of snaps the defense has logged. For what happened in the 171 yards they gave up against the Browns, Heyward listed a few different things that went wrong.
"Technique. Not getting off blocks. Assignments were really big," he said. "When you win you can say, 'yeah we stopped the run a little bit, just need to clean up things.' We lost, and there are things that are becoming more glaring."
The absence of T.J. Watt is one thing that is awfully glaring, but Heyward wasn't accepting that as an excuse. In terms of stopping the run, he said, "We've gotta fix it. It's not something we're going to run away from. Gotta look to get better. It's not one man's job. It's an 11-man job. ... Run defense is about everybody being a part of it."
• It goes without saying, but a key part of defending the run is tackling, and the Steelers did not do that well against Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt and the Browns' running game. For the third straight week, the defense will face a running back tandem as the Jets consistently deploy Michael Carter and Breece Hall in their offense.
Teryl Austin said these two backs are young and explosive, and they can attack defenses on the ground and in the passing game. While neither of them are of Chubb's caliber, Austin made sure to not forget the underwhelming tackling performance in Cleveland.
"I think that the key is to keep them bottled up and make sure when you tackle, you wrap," Austin said. "We’ve got to do a really good job in terms of tackling and wrapping and bringing guys to the ground. You can’t shoulder bump people in this league. You can’t do those things. We’ve got to be really strong in our tackling, be really good in our pursuit angles. That’s going to be important because these guys are shifty and they are fast."
• Minkah Fitzpatrick (concussion protocol), Kevin Dotson (ankle), Pressley Harvin (left hip) were full participants in Thursday's practice, same as Wednesday. Ahkello Witherspoon (hamstring) and Larry Ogunjobi (non-injury/rest) did not practice. Witherspoon has not practiced this week.