If the Steelers offense fails and the scoreboard still lags, blame Canada

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The future of the Pittsburgh Steelers seems to be staring them in the face. The 2023 season should say a lot about who they are and what they have the potential to be in the near future. Much of this has to do with the success or failure of young quarterback Kenny Pickett. But he might as well be tied to offensive coordinator Matt Canada, at least this year.

Entering its third year on the job and its second with Pickett under center, Canada now has the tools around it to succeed. At least on paper, we should after this season have no excuses for its success or failure. If he can’t make things work with what they have now, if the offense continues to do what they need to do, then we can most likely safely lay the blame on their feet.

Besides giving me the opportunity to reference South Park, the title speaks to the pulse of the fanbase. Even amid optimism about the potential for a new identity on offense, it’s often tempered by comments that it’s still Canada calling the plays.

That’s why this particular season is so important, because it should spell out his future, or more specifically if he has one with the Steelers. Formerly recognized as a creative offensive mind at the collegiate level, he now has the NFL experience and the NFL talent to lead an offense that should prove whether his ideas are viable or not.

And if they’re not, then he has to go. As far as we know, he only remains under contract through the 2023 season, so this is a sink or swim year. The attack made significant progress in the second half of last season in their ability to extend training and adopt a balanced approach, but they always faltered where it mattered most: finding the end zone.

Now, that wasn’t all about Canada, far from it, and I’ll be the first to say that he got a lot of blame for things he didn’t have much say in or he didn’t have the ability to control. But we have to see the potential of this attack to be able to compete with the big attacks in this league. Period.

If we can’t go into a game against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs with at least some reasonable confidence that the Steelers can put up more than 30 points if needed, then the job isn’t done. . And it may start with the coordinator, but it may not end there.

As always, there’s still some question as to whether or not they have the right staff. What will be the quality of this offensive line? How well will they be able to throw the ball? How many jumps can George Pickens make in his second season? How will they balance staff groupings?

Yet when seasons end, if this is still an 18-20 ppg average offense, with no strong indications of significant improvement on the immediate horizon, it will be hard not to. put the blame on Canada’s feet. Because there have always been excuses before. What excuses will there be in January? Hopefully we won’t need it.

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