Steelers OC Matt Canada’s new sideline play-calling plan will do little to fix his broken offense

The Pittsburgh Steelers are in pseudo-purgatory.

They ostensibly have a defense led by a constellation of stars worthy of contending for a Super Bowl championship. But their atrocious offense, led by offensive coordinator Matt Canada, is so inept that it barely matters. Earlier this season, head coach Mike Tomlin already refused to hold Canada accountable for the Steelers’ rampant offensive struggles. Now, he (unsurprisingly) seems to be on board with Canada’s latest “brilliant” plan that will likely change nothing for the better.

According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, Canada will call plays for the Steelers’ offense from the sideline when they take on the Tennessee Titans on Thursday Night Football. The obvious implication is that Canada — who usually spends games in the Steelers’ coaching box — will be able to see more of the game and understand more of the flow by being closer to the action.

I cannot emphasize this enough. Canada is being delusional if he thinks this will lead to much improvement for Pittsburgh:

A tweak in the play-calling process for the #Steelers tonight: Offensive coordinator Matt Canada will be on the sideline, sources say. He usually calls games from upstairs. Will now be in close proximity to Mike Tomlin and the players as he calls plays vs. the #Titans.

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) November 2, 2023

The Steelers’ anemic offense is past the point of making minor cosmetic changes or decisions about coach positioning (???) having tangible effects. Canada’s attack is so lifeless that it’s hard to point at any one thing it even does well. For further context, here’s a small round-up of the Steelers’ offensive resume in 2023:

Oh, and if this somehow wasn’t enough to convince you, second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett resembles an unmitigated bust. Among all qualified starting quarterbacks, Pickett’s current 0.009 EPA and completion percentage over expected (CPOE) composite is 30th in the NFL, with only Zach Wilson ranking lower. That’s not company you want to keep! Pickett is also 26th in total passing yards, and his mediocre 80.6 passer rating is 27th in the NFL. As our Christian D’Andrea wrote a few weeks ago, Pickett shows occasional flashes week to week, but his sheer incompetence outweighs everything else:

“He’s [Pickett] willing to take shots downfield and shows up in big moments. His fourth quarter completion percentage over expected (CPOE) of 0.1, while not great, is signfiicantly higher than the -6.2 he posts over the first three quarters. Some star traits are there, but they’re buried beneath everything else that stinks.”

All of this to say is that Canada should really temper expectations of his sideline play-calling plan being some kind of panacea. This is a strategy where only thoroughly broken offenses would grasp straws. It’s the Steelers essentially saying they’ve tried nothing (as in anything meaningful) and are all out of ideas.

Good luck, T.J. Watt and friends. You’re going to continue needing it.