Speculation of replacing Matt Canada as the Steelers' offensive coordinator has grown over the recent weeks, and fans are frothing over the idea of a new face running the offense in an effort to remedy the NFL's worst scoring offense and fifth-worst total offense.
As of Tuesday afternoon and just before the team trading receiver Chase Claypool to Chicago for a second-round pick, Canada reassured that his job will remain as such, as the bye week carries the Steelers into a clash with New Orleans on Nov. 13.
"I'm just working every day," he said with a shrug on Tuesday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. "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, so I'm not -- I'm not privy to those -- I commented last week, I'm not naive. My job is, I call the plays, and if they don't work, everybody can talk about why they don't work. That's all, I'm focusing on our players, and we have to win some games."
The Steelers rank dead last in not only scoring offense, but in average scoring differential, at a minus-9.6 points per game. This is more than double from the average margin of minus-4.2 ppg. last season, and it is a much worse trend experienced on the road (minus-14.4 ppg.) than at home (minus-1.4 ppg.). Over the last three games, the Steelers have averaged a minus-8.7 ppg. scoring margin.
To sum it up: By every metric available, no matter how it is skewed, the Steelers' offense has been terrible. That goes beyond the eye-test (where the consensus would say it has failed) and springs into discussion of how Canada's play-calling has hampered the offense and, in turn, the development of rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett.
The two schools of thought surrounding a firing of Canada are also there: Does it really matter? Will it only help? (It certainly could not hurt, after all, would be a third school of thought.)
But, if Canada were to be fired during this bye week, conventional wisdom suggests it would have made sense to do so on Monday, or immediately after the Steelers returned to the South Side following their 35-13 blowout in Philadelphia on Sunday.
Alas, he remains, as of Tuesday afternoon.
And so do the questions of how the Steelers get the train back onto the tracks. Pickett has been less than adequate, even for a rookie, but will require patience to develop.
As Bill Parcells once said, "you are what your record says you are." The Steelers are 2-6. They have played as such. And the answers to many questions about where the Steelers go from this point remain unresolved.
It might help to study, first.
After the loss at Philadelphia, Pickett was asked about the team's nine penalties. He commented about the team committing too many mental errors in resulting in the lapses.
"Yeah, not detailed. Not detailed," Pickett said on Sunday. "Guys need to know what they’re doing. We need to study more. I don’t think we study enough as a group. There’s way too many penalties and stuff like that which we can control. It’s all mental. So for that to happen there’s really no excuse for that. We have to figure that out and get it right.”
Asked to retort, Canada reiterated.
"We've got to play better," he said. "Whatever we have to do to do that, we cannot continue to make the mistakes that we've made and hurt ourselves. I'll continue to stay until it's fixed. It's me, but Kenny was just speaking for himself. We've got to play better. We've got to get things off tape, we can't make the same mistakes over and over, and I think that was probably what he was speaking to."
The passing game will be forced to adjust now with the dealing of Claypool, as Diontae Johnson and George Pickens will benefit from more targets. Steven Sims and Miles Boykin, along with Gunner Olszewski, are now next in line for the No. 3 receiver position, with Sims being a beneficiary of some added playing time in Philadelphia.
(We spoke with Canada and Steelers players on Tuesday before the Claypool deal was announced, so there was not comment from anybody within the locker room regarding the trade.)
How convenient is it, for the bye week to come during the week of the trade deadline?
The bye week will -- pun fully intended -- buy Canada some time, should he remain employed through the end of it, to search for some of those answers on offense, whether it regards penalties, personnel, or performance.
"I think some of those things are fundamental things," he said. "It's focus, and talking about the extra week, the extra week's good to assess where we are, to look at where things have gone well, and look at why those things that are off a little bit here and there haven't gone well. Why are these plays that are almost, almost -- all these -- none of that matters. I think it's been good to look at that and kind of figure out why and get it better."
As for the running game, Canada has to start giving Jaylen Warren some more looks. On Sunday, the undrafted rookie out-rushed Najee Harris, 50 yards to 37, with one fewer carry, and he averaged nearly double the yards per catch, despite catching half of the passes Harris did.
Warren has carried the ball 29 times for 153 yards (5.3 per carry) this season, compared to Harris' 108 carries for 361 yards (3.3 per carry) and one touchdown.
"He's just a fired-up guy that comes in and works really, really hard, and does the things you want him to do, and he's a football player," Canada said. "He's running good, protecting, catching the ball. He's just -- since Day 1 when he's got here, he's done pretty good."
