Steelers' Offense Will Have Balanced Input From Coaching Staff In 2024 Unlike Under Matt Canada: "A More Collective Effort"

The Pittsburgh Steelers are finally entering a new era. They are entering the 2024 season with the idea that the only way to go is up. Matt Canada was an unmitigated disaster that held back the offense at every twist and turn. His incompetence forced the Steelers to do something that they haven't done since the pre-Super Bowl era: fire a coach in the middle of the season. From there, Mike Tomlin has been trying multiple things to undo everything that Canada did during his almost three-season tenure as offensive coordinator. 

Mike Sullivan and Eddie Faulkner took over as co-offensive coordinators to begin fixing the offense towards the end of the 2023 season. When the season officially ended, Faulkner went back to being the running backs coach and Sullivan became the senior offensive assistant. In his mailbag session, insider Mark Kaboly of The Athletic was asked about their roles under the new offensive coordinator, Arthur Smith. Kaboly gave Steeler Nation a reason to be excited about the new offensive staff.

"[Everyone on the offensive staff] will have a say in the game plan, and that’s important. The biggest knock on Matt Canada, so I was told, was that he didn’t take input from others well. It was basically his way and that was it. Under Smith, it sure seems like it will be a more collective effort. But more importantly, he is an experienced play-caller, which tends to get overlooked a lot. It’s not an easy thing to do."

It's pretty sad that fans are getting hope from professional coaches working together, but that's where the Steelers are at. Canada acted as a lone wolf and did everything on his own. He made the game plan based off of his own ideas and called plays without help, and that was final. Not only was Canada incompetent, but he refused any sort of help to make him a better coach. 

Tomlin even gave him every opportunity to develop as a coach in 2023. He was given a chance to work more closely to the starting quarterback, Kenny Pickett. He was also moved to the sidelines so he could have better communication with his players. In the end, his own stubbornness and questionable coaching led to him being forced out. 

Steelers Will Continue To Let Faulkner And Sullivan Contribute To Game Plan

In an effort to force the coaches to work together, Sullivan and Faulkner finished the season as co-offensive coordinators, and both were retained in 2024 as mentioned above. While Smith will make the final decisions on offense for the 2024 season and the foreseeable future, he will at least take input from his assistants and allow them to help him in making the game plan each week.  

There's also the fact that Smith has called games at the NFL level before. He was the offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans for two years, and they were some of the most productive years in the team's history. In 2019, they made it all the way to the AFC Championship game with Ryan Tannehill at quarterback. In 2020, Derrick Henry eclipsed the 2,000-yard rushing mark as the Titans won the division.

Smith's time with the Atlanta Falcons was rough, as they went through stagnation and questionable play-calling for three seasons. However, some coaches just work better as coordinators than head coaches. Smith had a nice two-year run in Tennessee, where the offense thrived on their power run game. The Steelers' offense should automatically be better due to addition by subtraction now that Canada is gone.

What do you think about the differences in Matt Canada and Arthur Smith? Can Smith lead the Steelers' offense to where it wants to go? Let us know in the comments.

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