It’s not going out on a limb to say that offensive coordinator Matt Canada is the most disliked member of the Pittsburgh Steelers right now — and that’s putting it mildly.
Fans are fed up after two abysmal outings from his offense, predictable from the time he took over for Randy Fichtner. So much so that a “Fire Canada” chant broke out at Acrisure Stadium on Monday night.
Buy Steelers Tickets“I’ve been made aware of it,” Canada told Steelers media on Thursday before deflecting the topic to his players. “There’s not one ounce of lack of confidence in the players that I have or a lack of confidence in the coaches that I have. We’re gonna play better. We’re gonna get it right. We’re not putting it on the field that we expected to do in those first two games.”
Canada had a similar response after the Steelers’ embarrassing Week 1 loss to the San Fransisco 49ers. And yet, nothing changed.
“The fans want us to win, they want us to play better,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with their passion. Mike T. says it all the time, we are not running away from it. We expect to be better. We will be better. I firmly believe that.”
Canada is drinking his own Kool-Aid if he genuinely believes the offense did a good enough job Monday night to win. “Our defense did a great job, special teams did a great job. The offense did a good enough job in certain plays to us a win.”
Matt Canada says he was “made aware” of the Fire Canada chant at Acrisure Stadium in the fourth quarter.
“There’s nothing wrong with their passion.” pic.twitter.com/w1rJJIus0B
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) September 21, 2023
“I would like us to have more production and score more points.” Wouldn’t we all? So, how about designing some plays that actually result in points?
Though Canada compiles the game plan, he says Kenny Pickett has freedom at the line of scrimmage. “Kenny’s got quite a bit of freedom to do things and get us where he wants to go. Kenny’s been very involved in the offense and what we’re doing, but at no point is this falling on Kenny.”
Certainly, Pickett has performed poorly. He plays a significant role in why this offense is struggling. But when it comes down to it, his job is to execute the plays he’s been instructed on. Perhaps his play on the field would improve if the scheme was better.
