The Pittsburgh Steelers 2021 offense was a total and utter disaster, and by the sound of it, the guy who ran it will be given a chance to redeem himself.
Count former Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch among those who are less than thrilled that the team appears likely to retain offensive coordinator Matt Canada.
“This is just kind of where I’m at; I don’t like this offense, I don’t like cutting half of the field off, but hey, this is what is it, and we’ve seen exactly what this offense is capable of doing,” Batch told 93.7 The Fan Morning Show on Friday.
“I just don’t see us not advancing, and now saying miraculously this offensive is going to go from the bottom of the league to the top of the league, I just don’t see it happening.”
Batch believes that the Steelers won’t part ways with Canada, especially if years remain on his contract.
“[Art Rooney II is] not going to pay him to sit at home, so if he has years on [his contract], Matt’s going to be back,” Batch said.
According to Mark Kaboly of The Athletic, Canada’s contract situation is unknown since he was promoted (from quarterbacks coach) and not an external hire. Coordinators have gotten three-year contracts, while position coaches have gotten two years.
As dreadful as the Steelers run game was in 2021 (29th), it slightly improved over 2020’s last-ranked ground attack.
That nowhere near makes up for the fact that Pittsburgh was far worse in at least 10 other offensive categories like scoring (34 touchdowns compared to 50), points per game (20.2 to 26), yards per game (315.4 to 334.6) and third-down percentage (38.9 to 42.2).
While there were promises of an exciting and creative offensive scheme, it never materialized. It appeared that Canada didn’t switch things up much at all from the failed Randy Fichtner offense. It could have to do with the fact that to pull off what Canada wants requires a mobile quarterback — unfortunately for the Steelers, there’s not one currently on the roster.
Can Canada learn from his mistakes with a new (mobile) quarterback running his offense in the 2022 season? We shall see.
