The majority of Pittsburgh Steelers fans are fed up with Matt Canada. The Indianapolis Colts have an even more anemic offense than the Steelers and they fired the offensive coordinator in an attempt to improve the team. When that didn’t work, they fired a coach who has managed to make multiple quarterbacks seem competent after the abrupt retirement of Andrew Luck. Both moves were made during the season and the Colts of course could be committed to tanking the 2022 season, but they did something first.
Rumor: Steelers might be interested in a Frank Reich type assistant coach. Tune in at 3. @937theFan
— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) November 9, 2022
The Steelers for better or worse are committed to Canada for the duration of 2022. Wednesday afternoon the bombastic Andrew Fillipponi suggested, during The P.M. Team W/ Poni and Mueller, a different name than Frank Reich, the deposed head coach of the Colts for the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator position.
“Frank Reich doesn’t want to be a coordinator,” Fillipponi summarized. "So here is the Frank Reich type. I think we have brought this guy up before, but here would be the connection. Adam Gase is a very weird guy; he has been ridiculed for his bug-eyed press conferences and he went to New York after losing a playoff game with Matt Moore to the Steelers. He was one of the worst head coaches in NFL history. He has been paid not to coach for the last couple of years and he is not going to get another head coaching opportunity. You can be a great coordinator and lousy head coach.”
Steelers Kenny Pickett (#8) goes through a ball security drill in practice in preparation for the New Orleans Saints in Pittsburgh, PA. | Photo Credit: Abigail Dean/Pittsburgh Steelers
The 93.7 radio host, who is not only a member of the Kenny Pickett fan club but also the president, is well aware that Adam Gase made his name and got subsequent opportunities because of his work with Peyton Manning in Denver. He rode the Hall of Fame quarterback literally to two top-five offensive performances in points and yards.
“Gase is well respected as an offensive play caller,” Fillipponi continued. “The biggest thing is, there is a Kenny Pickett connection. The Pickett connection is through Peyton Manning. Manning swears by Adam Gase, not so much as calling brilliant plays on the field because that’s what Manning does as de facto offensive coordinator. But for being a great guy to work with, for being somebody who in that role had a great mind for it and that propelled him to heights he didn’t deserve.”
Gase took a pair of head coaching opportunities after spending a year as the Chicago Bears offensive coordinator which destroyed his reputation. He also has never had an offense in his six seasons without Manning finishing in the top half of the league in points or yards. Gase also demonstrated that he does not handle the media or questions about his offense professionally.
PITTSBURGH, PA - JULY 28: Ben Roethlisberger #7 of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Matt Canada of the Pittsburgh Steelers look on during training camp at Heinz Field on July 28, 2021, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo Credit Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
Essentially, Fillipponi is suggesting that a coach, who did not call plays when his offense was at its best, should replace Matt Canada. Sound familiar? The only difference is Ben Roethlisberger doesn’t swear by Canada. The suggestion of Gase because Pickett looks to Manning as a mentor wasn’t even the most outlandish thing said about the former head coach during the program.
Aditi Kinkhawabla who works as a reporter for CBS sports joined the show to discuss the Steelers after Fillipponi suggested that Gase would be a good candidate for the job. Kinkhawabla refuted that the Steelers would seek an experienced coordinator who could command a larger salary before unleashing a truly bizarre take about Gase and the inferred reverence that players had for him.
“I do actually think, and I have had a lot of people tell me that Adam Gase is a great play caller,” Kinkhawabla told Chris Mueller. “He just wasn’t wired to be a head coach. There are people that say that about Dick LeBeau. I don’t know that there is another coach that is loved as much as Dick LeBeau is, and he didn’t work as a head coach. There could be some truth to that, Adam Gase is a very interesting character, it would be interesting to see.”
Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Dick Le Beau talks to linebacker Greg Lloyd (95) and safeties Rod Woodson (26) and Carnell Lake (37) during the AFC Divisional Playoff, a 29-9 victory over the Cleveland Browns on January 7, 1995, at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo Credit: Allen Kee/Getty Images)
A lot of coaches have failed as head coaches after being exceptional coordinators. Many have returned to coordinator jobs and picked up where they left off and found success again. In fairness, Kinkhawabla may have not realized the line she was drawing between the two very different men. The very notion that the first comparison that pops into your head is Dick LeBeau is flabbergasting. LeBeau is the father of the Blitzburgh 3-4 system that has endured for 30 years and is a universally beloved figure in Pittsburgh that contributed to four Super Bowl appearances.
LeBeau took over as an interim coach for the Cincinnati Bengals during the 2000 season and arguably laid the foundation for his former fellow defensive staff member Marvin Lewis to succeed. LeBeau remade the Bengals, but in typical Bungles fashion they gave up before the result could take hold. The comparison to Gase is insulting to a Pittsburgh icon and Hall of Famer. Even if it was an accidental one by Kinkhawabla.
The Steelers cannot afford to miss on the offensive coordinator in 2023. Mike Tomlin may not be on the organization’s hot seat, although he deserves to be at this point. But if he cannot select the right coach to succeed Canada and revamp the office, it is time to do it for him or choose to move on to the fourth head coach of the Super Bowl era in Pittsburgh.
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Pickett might not be the next franchise quarterback in Pittsburgh but after spending a first-round draft pick on him, the entire Steelers hierarchy is tied to his success or failure. Even the Steelers cannot ignore a huge miss on a quarterback in the first round, hopefully, they choose the right coordinator, and they don’t have to.
What do you think Steeler Nation? Are you buying Adam Gase as a solution or the death knell for the current management? Comment below or on my Twitter @thebubbasq.
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