It has become more than evident the Steelers' offense is not going to be fixed overnight. Or, in Matt Canada's case, since January 25, 2021, when he assumed the role as the team's offensive coordinator.
His offense resides in the basement of the NFL through two games. It ranks 31st in yards and 26th in points per game. It has no flow or feel or rhythm to it. It was incompetent to the point in Monday's win over the Browns, despite the defense doing everything it needed to in order to give the offense opportunities, that the defense was reason why the Steelers won, outscoring the offense, 14-12.
Fixes need to come to the Canada offense and its system in a sweeping manner. Canada has to put a better product onto the field.
How does that happen?
As he said Thursday morning, when I asked, at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex ...
"A lot of things," Canada said. "We've got to be more consistent, we've got to be better at ... every facet of our game can be a little bit better, and that's a ... there's no magical answer to this, I believe, but I'm very proud and excited about where our players are at with it. There's nobody pointing fingers, there's nobody throwing in the towel. We're 1-1; we're fortunate to be there. Great job by a lot of components but we won a game against a really good team. It's much easier to do that when you win a game, and we'll just keep fighting to the way we had it in summer, the way we had it in camp, and we've got to get ourselves back to that and it's a challenge for all of us. We're working really hard to find out what that is, but I don't have an answer for you."
The Steelers net was 255 yards on Monday, and the running game was hardly present as a complement to a shoddy-at-best passing game. Kenny Pickett did not play particularly well and he certainly has his own challenges to hash out, but that does not excuse nine first downs on Monday -- none in the first quarter through two games -- to go along with minus-7 yards total yards in the fourth quarter.
The defense bailed out this performance with Alex Highsmith's pick-six to open the game and T.J. Watt's fumble recovery for a touchdown in the middle of the fourth quarter, which masks another slipshod performance by one of the worst offenses in football.
It got bad to a point where fans were chanting "FI-RE CA-NA-DA!" in the fourth quarter.
"I've been made aware of it," Canada said of the jeers, with a grin across his face. "I mean, obviously I was working. We had a tough play. There's not one ounce of a lack of confidence in the players that I have or the lack of confidence in the coaches I have. We're going to play better. We're going to get it right. We're not putting it on the field like we're expected to do in those first two games. The fans want us to win, want us to play better. There's nothing wrong with their passion and those things, and obviously we're not going to -- Mike (Tomlin) says it all the time — we're not going to run away from it. We expect to be better, we're going to be better. We firmly believe that, so until we do that, obviously there's going to be frustration -- more frustration with our guys because we're not happy with what we're putting on tape and putting on the field. We'll continue to get it right and get better, and I firmly believe that."
Here are some jaw-dropping and "disturbing" analytics from Warren Sharp over at Sharp Football. The Steelers are averaging 19.6 yards per drive and 8.0 offensive points per game, which are worst in the NFL in each category.
Here is Sharp's breakdown, including more about Canada's offense, with subtitles:
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSvideos) September 21, 2023
On Tuesday, Tomlin acknowledged that the offense has to "get our mojo back," what it had in the preseason when Pickett was able to charge the offense to five touchdown drives in five possessions. Tomlin also said "two is a pattern" after Monday's offensive output followed a poor showing in Week 1, when the Steelers were only able to pile up 239 yards and a two-minute-drill touchdown to end the first half.
"We've lost that (mojo), to be blunt, in the last several weeks," Tomlin said. "We're not getting the type of fluidity that we want in our starts. We're not teeing up possession-down play, not being in advantageous possession-down circumstances and (it) really is making it challenging to sustain drives and to score points. We're not going to have knee-jerk reactions in terms of trying to make wholesale changes in an effort to change that outcome. ... We're all in this thing together, man. We're not assigning blame for anyone.
"Obviously, it starts with coaching, man. We've got to coach better. We've got to get these guys playing faster with more fluidity in short order, we've got to start faster, we have to play more coordinated, particularly at the early stages of games.We have to anticipate schematics of those that we play against a little bit better in displaying anticipation as a component of preparedness."
How does Canada believe, at this stage, that he can bring that mojo back?
"I don't know. If you've got the answer, you can let me know or tell somebody else," Canada said.
He followed that statement with more explanation about relating football to life, but it's still his job to find that answer if the life of the Steelers' season wants to remain above ground. He can -- and has -- preached about how his players are in the building and working hard and about how the offense is going "popcorn," as Pickett said Wednesday, but there is no consistency or a flow resembling anything that Pickett and the rest of the offense can get settled into, as evidenced by the in-game experience.
Shortly stated, the offense has an identity crisis.
"We've got to find it. Clearly, we don't have one," Pickett said Wednesday. "We need to stay together, like I keep saying. It's a team game. It's an ultimate team game. One guy does something wrong on one play as an offense, it usually doesn't go your way. So, we got to stay together. Don't let the 'popcorn' effect happen where it's one guy each play, which it just comes with staying out and working."
That has to start with Canada. Yes, execution is always a factor and it's admirable that the players are taking ownership of the situation, but Canada has not put his players in the best positions to succeed.
Recall what all-world offensive tackle Trent Williams said after the 49ers beat the Steelers in Week 1:
"At one point, you just kind of wanted (the Steelers) to get a first down," Williams told the San Francisco Chronicle. "There were all those three-and-outs and we kind of needed a break."
Two offensive touchdowns in two games does not and will not cut it in today's NFL. Tomlin's "two is a pattern" comment from Tuesday is an indication that there is at least dissatisfaction from within about the offense's performance, though a coaching change is not imminent
That doesn't make Canada completely safe. None of that -- or this -- will.
"I've got great belief in where we're at and what we're doing," Canada said. "I'm in charge of the offense. It wasn't good. That's it. That's part of the deal, that's part of the chair. I can't be stronger on the fact that I believe in our players and our coaches and I have no doubt it's going to be better. The process is what it is. The defense did a great job, special teams did a great job, offense did a good enough job in certain plays to get us a win. It's way more fun to sit here and talk to you with a win than a loss when you don't have a good performance, and we expect to have a better performance this week and moving forward the next 15 weeks and after."
