Former Steelers' Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada Refused To Let Assistant Coaches Help With Game Plan

The Pittsburgh Steelers and their fans are breathing a huge sigh of relief after Matt Canada was finally fired. Nothing positive came from his tenure in the Steel City. As more time passes, more things come out about Canada that proves that he should have been fired long before their Week 11 loss. Insiders and reporters have been leaking all kinds of information since he was fired, and more news recently came out about the way Canada ran things. 

Gerry Dulac appeared on KDKA's pregame show before the Steelers' Week 12 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals which was their first game without Canada coaching the offense. While football is a team game, the coaches also have to work as a team, and Canada reportedly refused to do that.

"One of the things Matt Canada did not do was involve the assistant coaches in the game plan. That's going to be Eddie Faulkner's job, organizing the staff. That was Mike Tomlin's words and that's what he's doing."

Canada was a lone wolf when it came to making game plans. He tried to do everything by himself, and the constant offensive regression proved that Canada's method of game-planning did not work, yet he continued to try it. At a certain point, a coach has to admit that his way of doing things doesn't work, and Canada was either too stubborn, prideful, or ignorant to understand that, and that led to everything that forced the team's hand. 

Head Coach, Mike Tomlin made sure that that would not happen for the rest of the season. Even though he named Eddie Faulkner as the interim offensive coordinator, he immediately named Mike Sullivan as the offensive play-caller. Faulkner would be coming up with the game plans while Sullivan would call them out to Kenny Pickett during the game. 

Steelers' Offense Without Canada In Week 12

While the score might not indicate as such in their Week 12 matchup, the Steelers showed a ton of improvement all across the board, with the big one being Pickett utilizing the middle of the field. The theories that Canada schemed passes almost exclusively to the sideline have been proven true, and the very first play of the game proved it. 

Another big improvement was Najee Harris trusting himself and trusting his offensive line. Harris is best as a north-to-south power runner, although he's seemingly been trying to turn himself into an east-to-west runner. He had more downhill runs, including a 20-yard run that involved roughly 17 yards of contact from the defense. He's showing off more of his power already in the post-Canada era, and it's clearly what the Steelers needed. 

That doesn't even take the abysmal streaks into consideration. Not only did the Steelers manage to have a 400+ yard game on offense for the first time since the Randy Fichtner era, but they out-gained their opponent for the first time in the 2023 season. So, many negative stats and narratives about this offense have been finally lifted. 

Obviously, the Steelers weren't perfect. They had a red zone fumble and they only put up 16 points in the game, but this is still much-needed breath of fresh air. For now, Steeler Nation can go into Victory Monday knowing that there is hope on the offensive side of the ball. There is hope that Pickett can develop into a consistent, quality starter at some time. We can all get excited about the future of the Steelers now that Canada is gone. 

What do you think about Matt Canada trying to do everything by himself, as well as the Steelers' sudden offensive output after his firing? Let us know in the comments.

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