The Pittsburgh Steelers made the shocking and long-anticipated move to fire Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada on Tuesday after a 13-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns. Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin showed noted displeasure with how the offense has performed while talking to the media on Tuesday, but followed through his support behind second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett. He quickly dismissed a question about whether he was considering a quarterback change.
%202023%20Camp%20Final%20with%20Logos/2L9A6683-544x306.jpg "Steelers Kenny Pickett")
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Steelers signal-caller Kenny Pickett (#8) runs onto the field during a 2023 training camp practice at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA.
Tomlin was quite short with reporters on several questions. Still, when asked during his press conference about why he's confident in Pickett's growth and development moving forward, he elaborated a little longer, specifically, focusing on the work ethic Pickett brings to the table.
"Because I work with him every day," Tomlin said. "I’ve been very transparent about him and his willingness to work. This guy will do anything and everything. He works extremely hard. There’s such thing as football justice and those guys usually get what they’re looking for."
Pickett has had a rough time in 2023. He's completing just 60.5% of his passes this season and has only two touchdown passes in the last seven weeks. He's also dealt with some injuries, suffering a knee injury in the team's game against the Houston Texans, and dealt with a rib ailment that knocked him out of the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
He's faced heavy criticism for his play in his first season installed as a starter from the outset of the offseason. His predecessor, Ben Roethlisberger was not impressed with him missing open receivers during a game against the Tennessee Titans that the Steelers were able to prevail in. Former Steelers defensive lineman Chris Hoke has questions about his decision-making and how he goes through progressions that he thinks make it tough to project him being a real NFL starter.
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The Steelers offense surrounds Kenny Pickett (#8) after taking a shot to his ribs against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Despite all the outside noise from lots of places that Pickett is not adept enough to be an NFL starting quarterback, Tomlin is sticking by the guy whom he and former General Manager Kevin Colbert attached their hopes to as the next leader of the franchise when they made him the 20th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Steelers' Tomlin Not Worried About The Future, Fully Focused On The Now
The long-term future of Pickett through continuity with Canada, and the success of the offense in the back half of 2022 were the reasons that team President Art Rooney II trotted out as the two main reasons for holding onto the maligned coordinator when he announced that Canada would be returning for 2023.
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Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett and Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada on the sideline during a game against the Tennessee Titans.
Tomlin completely downplayed any notion that this move was made for the future of Kenny Pickett. In Bill Belichick-like fashion, Tomlin kept the focus squarely on the team's next opponent, the Cincinnati Bengals.
"I'm focused on this week when it comes to the development of Kenny," he said. "We're not urinating on the fire, man. We're getting ready to play and win a football game this week. That is the only agenda here. It's not big picture and 2024 and all of that. This organization is not wired like that."
Tomlin said he's not changing his evaluation of Pickett under the new interim offensive coordinator, Eddie Faulkner, and play-caller Mike Sullivan. He looks forward to seeing how the change can get the team back in the win column. This is the first time he's replaced a coordinator in the middle of a season, so he's not sure what kind of effect it's really going to have, but as he made apparent throughout the press conference, the product the offense was producing with 16.6 points per game and 1.32 points per drive was not enough.
Tomlin might not think the evaluation of Pickett is any different when all he cares about seems to be wins and losses, but there will be plenty of observers, be it fans or media, that will be keeping a close eye on how things go with the new set up and if anything changes for Pickett.
How do you think the change in coordinator will affect Pickett? Are you surprised by Tomlin's answers to the decision to fire Canada not being about Pickett? Comment below!
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