There has been no shying away from Pittsburgh Steelers' fans and media regarding the performance of the offense and play-calling of offensive coordinator, Matt Canada. The unit has mustered just 510 total yards throughout the first two weeks of the regular season and scored just two touchdowns. There are a number of moving pieces which include a revamped, out of sync offensive line, new quarterbacks on the roster and the lack of explosive plays coming from the offense. It's hard to believe the coaching staff watches film and believes the group looks effective. Another shocking revelation came out on Tuesday when Mitch Trubisky came clean about his ability to change plays at the line of scrimmage.
Steelers' Mitch Trubisky (#10) practiced prior to the team's Week 2 matchup against the Patriots. | Credit: Karl Roser/Pittsburgh Steelers
According to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Trubisky said that he doesn't have the ability to audible at the line of scrimmage on all plays with how the current offense is set up.
Mitch Trubisky said he doesn't have the freedom to call audibles on every play in Matt Canada's offense. "We're still figuring out when it’s a good time for me to audible," he said. Trubisky is a six-year veteran, right?
— Gerry Dulac (@gerrydulac) September 20, 2022
Trubisky was asked on Tuesday about his freedom to change the play and his response was concerning.
"Uh, not necessarily every play," Trubisky said.
Dulac brings up a great point. For those calling for Kenny Pickett to start at quarterback, if the six-year veteran doesn't always have the option to read the defense and mix up the plays, what kind of trust do people think that Canada will have in the rookie? It is extremely troubling to come to the realization that an offensive coordinator and coaching staff would try and control that much of what happens on the field.
Karl Roser / Pittsburgh Steelers
In his Week 3 press conference, head coach, Mike Tomlin stated that picking up the tempo and running no huddle is part of the offense's game plan. That was when the group looked decent on Sunday and all of last year when Ben Roethlisberger was at quarterback. Speaking of the retired signal-caller, Canada's unit would probably look the exact same statistically if Roethlisberger was still on the roster.
Trubisky said that the no huddle approach could be a strength of the offense if they use it consistently and that it has been a positive part of the offense thus far.
"Pace has been a positive component for us. We'd like to continue to build off that and hopefully it can become more of a part of our offense, for sure. You see positive plays when we go tempo and we'd like to add more of that and see where it goes."
In terms of the audible restrictions, it's extremely unsettling regardless of why that the starting quarterback isn't able to change the play after reading the defense on certain play calls. That displays a lack of trust in Trubisky and the offense as a whole. Is it because the group can't correctly change their look pre-snap? Or is Canada simply trying to have too much control over an already inefficient offense?
The only way the Steelers will be able to compete for a division title in 2022 is if the offense picks up its play. It has been underwhelming the first two weeks of the campaign and if more of the same continues, fans might as will kiss their playoff hopes goodbye. Something needs to change and it begins with trusting the guy selected to run the offense or putting someone in charge who the coaching staff has more faith in.
Do you find it odd that Trubisky can't audible all the time when the Steelers offense lines up at the line of scrimmage? Let us know in the comments below!
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