The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Tennessee Titans 20-16 to start Week 9 of the 2023 NFL regular season. The Steelers have won five of eight games and are now 12-4 in their last 16 games. Pittsburgh owns the tiebreakers in the AFC North with two division wins against the Baltimore Ravens and the Cleveland Browns. They still have four division games remaining in the second half of the season, with three pivotal road games among the four.
Karl Roser / Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin (left) and Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada (right).
Mike Tomlin or Matt Canada, depending on your perspective, made some significant adjustments to the offense on Thursday Night Football. Canada, for the first time in his career at any level, called the game from the sidelines instead of the booth. The Steelers scored a touchdown on their opening drive for just the third time in 32 games. Broderick Jones started at right tackle, and the Steelers had their best-rushing game of the season. It wasn’t perfect, but Pittsburgh’s offense was more effective than it has been.
Pro Football Talk
Steelers sometimes critic Mike Florio, criticized Kirk Herbstreit's defense of Matt Canada on Thursday Night Football.
On Friday morning, Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk was joined by Charean Williams to break down the Steelers' victory. Florio, after acknowledging that the Steelers had finally demonstrated that something had to change on offense by shifting Canada to the sidelines, theorized that Pittsburgh’s final drive of the night was the exact reason that fans were so frustrated.
“The Steelers got the ball back with 2:06 to play,” Florio begins. “This game should be over. You should be able to get a first down and go home. In a key moment, that is where having an ineffective offense can screw you up. If they hadn’t won that game, the failure of the offense to not do anything when they got the ball back with 2:06 to play would be the primary talking point and would be the spark of even more Matt Canada hatred in Pittsburgh.”
The first down run by Najee Harris into the teeth of a run blitz was the perfect opportunity to pass the ball. The clock would stop at the two-minute warning, and Pickett was on fire after the last drive. It is hard to determine if it was Canada’s call to run three times or if Tomlin overruled his offensive coordinator.
Benjamin B. Braun / Post-Gazette
Steelers' TJ Watt sacks Will Levis after he lost his helmet on Thursday Night Football.
Williams suggested that she was sure Tomlin decided to trust his defense. It was a tactic that she didn’t necessarily disagree with, by the way.
“This could be a thing where Mike Tomlin said, look, you find three running plays, but we are running it three times, and we’re going to punt the ball, and our defense is going to hold them,” Williams stated. “Mike, this is a team that cannot run. That’s part of the problem with their offense. They drafted Najee Harris high, and he has done absolutely nothing for them. Are you going to be able to do that in the playoffs? They are going to have to figure that out if they plan on being more than one and done.”
The Steelers are amid the franchise’s longest playoff win drought in the Super Bowl era. Their 11-year absence from an AFC Championship game is the longest since they joined the conference. Steeler Nation is not used to long stretches of playoff failures, and most of the fan base is no longer quiet about the playoff failures under Tomlin.
Steelers' Mike Tomlin Defended With Loathsome Talking Points By Mike Florio
Florio pointed out that the Amazon Thursday Night Football broadcast team, specifically Kirk Herbstreit, may have gone too far in praising the coaching and blaming the offensive execution. Pittsburgh’s scheme has been ripped as being too simplistic by multiple NFL analysts, so Herbstreit’s reluctance to blame Canada was curious. Ironically, this came after the regular cliché praise of Tomlin’s ability to win ugly football games by Williams and Florio.
“From time to time last night, how do I put this,” Florio noticeably paused. “Kirk Herbstreit, it felt like was making excuses for Matt Canada. He pointed to the execution and not the coaching. It was more than twice. I don’t know where the line is because, ultimately, the coaches are responsible for making sure the players properly execute the plays. That’s what coaching is, partially. If the offense doesn’t work, the offense doesn’t work.”
Florio, who does a weekly appearance on The PM Team w/Poni & Mueller on 93.7 The Fan, is a little more in tune with the frustrations of the Steelers fan base regarding the coaching staff. He astutely observed that harping on execution while seemingly defending the worst offensive coordinator was essentially an off-base analysis. The social media reaction was not friendly towards Herbstreit either.
Did the Steelers pay Herbstreit to defend Matt Canada or something? Mentioning it once or twice, ok... but it's every time the offense is on the field. A little weird, honestly. #TNF
— Euro (@euroclydon__) November 3, 2023
I think Herbstreit needs to go back to college football
— Mister Crash (@SteelersCrash) November 3, 2023
Hopefully, Canada's check won't bounce.
The Steelers have a mini-bye to continue to tweak their offensive strategy before they meet the Green Bay Packers in Week 10. Canada's move to the sideline was an improvement. The insertion of Jones as a starting tackle was an improvement. The Steelers won seven of the last nine games in 2022 after starting 2-6. Incredibly, if they duplicate that stretch in 2023, they could win the AFC North at 12-5. It won't be pretty, but with Kenny Pickett's fourth-quarter magic, anything is possible.
What do you think, Steeler Nation? Is Florio on point with calling out Herbstreit's defense of Canada? Please comment below or on my Twitter/X: @thebubbasq.
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