Steelers Offensive Plays Yelled Out By Jaguars Defense Before Most Plays

The Pittsburgh Steelers offense failed to reach 300 yards for the fifth time this season in Week 8 as the unit produced just 261 yards in a 20-10 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada continues to escape any public blame from Head Coach Mike Tomlin for the offensive woes while both persist that the issues are all execution based. On Sunday, a Jaguars linebacker hummed a similar tune to other opponents in the past who have called the scheme too predictable.

Linebacker Foyesade Oluokun spoke to the media on Monday and said via a video posted on YouTube by Jacksonville sports radio station 1010XL that the Jaguars defense could diagnose what Pittsburgh was trying to do.

 "We were kind of calling out a lot of plays before they happened," he said.

It's become a common theme for Canada's offense that opposing players and analysts have picked up on. Fox Sports analyst Mark Schlereth called out the unit for their poor running game that led to getting into too many predictable situations, especially on third down, in 2022. 

AFC North rivals linebacker Germaine Pratt of the Cincinnati Bengals and Patrick Queen of the Baltimore Ravens chimed in after games against Pittsburgh during the 2022 season about the predictability of the Steelers offense under Canada. Pratt said after the Bengals won 37-30 that after Pittsburgh managed to take a 20-17 lead to halftime, the defense was able to key in on Pittsburgh using the same plays over and over. 

For Queen, he told reporters he'd learned that tight end Pat Freiermuth ran only three different routes from a certain spot. Queen was able to diagnose exactly where the Penn State product was going to be and was able to snag an interception to close out the first half of the Week 14 clash in 2022. 

The Indianapolis Colts were another team that was able to snuff out Pittsburgh running its pathetic predictable offense. During their Monday night game in Week 12 in 2022, a TV mic picked up a Colts defender shouting: "It's the same plays!" The Steelers however, managed to claw out a 24-17 win. Kenny Pickett led a six-play drive to open the fourth quarter, capped by Benny Snell Jr. running into the end zone from two yards out for the go-ahead score. Despite getting the win, an opposing team should never be so easily sniffing out that Pittsburgh is consistently running the same plays.

Steelers' Poor Run Game Leading To Predictability For Opposing Teams  

The Steelers run game failed to get anything going against the Jaguars again. Jaylen Warren led the team in yards with 19 on five carries. Backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky relieved an injured Pickett at the end of the first half and put up 18 yards on the ground. Najee Harris was stonewalled by the Jacksonville defense collecting 13 yards on seven carries. 

The Jaguars had a clear plan to try and make Pittsburgh beat them through the air. Oluokun was happy with how physical his team played and said it was a big factor in holding Pittsburgh to just 70 yards on the ground. Pittsburgh struggled mightily again on third down going just 3/12. As Schlereth remarked about the team last season, a lack of a running game leads to tough third-down situations which leads to predictable play-calling; which was clearly in the Jaguars' favor in this contest.  

Running the same plays over and over again is not necessarily a bad thing. It worked for Le'Veon Bell against the Bengals in 2014. The biggest difference between that and what Canada's been doing is that the Bengals defense couldn't find a way to stop it. If Canada has a play for Harris or Warren that opposing defenses can't stop even if they know it's coming, we have yet to see it.    

Do you think Canada's offense is too predictable? Does it worry you that so many opposing players seem to be able to sniff out what Pittsburgh is doing before the ball is snapped? Comment below!

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