Former Steelers DL Chris Hoke Places Blame For Horrendous Offense Squarely On Kenny Pickett — Not Matt Canada

Chris Hoke has been part of the Steelers post-game show since 2015 for KDKA-TV and he has played for Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin. The defensive tackle appeared Thursday on the Cook and Joe Show on 93.7 The Fan and he was not in the mood to mince words about the Steelers’ offense. When asked about how poorly Canada’s scheme design was, Hoke ripped into Kenny Pickett.

“When guys aren’t executing, when things aren’t getting done,” Hoke snarled. “How can you put that on Canada? Go back and watch that film and everybody can say what they want but guys are open and he’s (Pickett) not seeing them. Kenny misses throws, on third and ten he has Pat Freiermuth open for first down he sails the ball. Air Mails it. Is that on Matt Canada? Another time on third down he throws to Diontae Johnson, but Pat moved down the seam wide open for a touchdown, he didn’t even look at him.”

Hoke signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 2001. He languished on the inactive list for most of his first three seasons, but after Casey Hampton was hurt in Ben Roethlisberger’s rookie season, he got an opportunity to play the remainder of the season. He ended up playing 11 seasons in Pittsburgh and was part of two Super Bowl Championships.

“I played for eleven years, I know how to watch film,” Hoke continued. “When guys aren’t executing, when things aren’t getting done, how can you put that on Canada? His scheme is good enough to if a quarterback can see a guy open and hit him they can score some points. Pickett has been disappointing, especially this last game and at the end of the Miami game.”

Pickett is a rookie signal caller, but based on preseason play, he seemed to have a better feel for anticipation throws than Mitch Trubisky. He has made mistakes to be sure, but in a league that values quarterbacks above all other positions, there was a reason he was still available when the Steelers picked in the bottom half of the first round. The 2022 quarterback draft class was questionable and Pickett needed more time on the bench but he was pressed into action.

“Here’s my problem Steeler Nation wanted and I fully believe this,” Hoke related. “They wanted Mitch Trubisky to fail. Anybody that says they didn’t they’re lying to themselves, they wanted Mitch Trubisky to fail so that Kenny Pickett could be the starting quarterback. Be careful what you wish for and I said that they wanted Pickett on the field and look what happens, you got a rookie. Coach Tomlin had a progression plan, he wanted a whole year.”

Hoke is not completely off base, in that an overwhelming portion of the fan base and national media wanted Pickett to start from snap one this season. The older, more cautious fans were okay with Trubisky easing the path for the rookie. Looking back they could have arrived at the bye week just as easily 2-6 without Pickett on the field and the bumps and bruises to the rookie’s reputation.

However, Hoke is conveniently forgetting that Mike Tomlin caved due to a locker room dispute with a malcontent wide receiver and his veteran quarterback. Sound familiar? This time he chose the malcontent wide receiver and benched his veteran quarterback in favor of a rookie quarterback. Trubisky has been extremely vocal, which is out of character since his benching about not being able to audible and the disarray of the coaching staff.

Scheme matters in the offense, Hoke is right that guys are open in the middle of the field but the quarterbacks are not coached to throw to those areas. The routes are decoys which is maddening,  the pass charts for the offense have been largely the same with Roethlisberger, Pickett and Trubisky. Was Roethlisberger missing open players in the seam? Simply put no, and Hoke is ignoring last season in his evaluation of the offense.

The Hall of Fame quarterback just hoped the foolish offensive scheme and above-average defense would get him into the second half with a chance to ignore coaching and go win the game. Roethlisberger’s late-game magic seemed to come exclusively from what he saw, noting that Canada or Tomlin was contributing. It is one of the many reasons he is headed to Canton, OH in a few years.

Hoke is a former Steelers player and a two-time Super Bowl Champion and from a player’s perspective holding yourself accountable first before blaming coaching makes sense. The Pittsburgh Steelers are a young football team on offense with no veteran leaders to teach them the Steelers way and the head coach and offensive coordinator don’t seem to know what that is.

You can’t fire all the players, Mr. Hoke. When it goes bad, changes have to be made at the top. Art Rooney II has been patient for six seasons and it has deteriorated to the point where instead of the Steelers getting embarrassed in the playoffs, it is becoming a weekly occurrence. Fans are not going to go along with blaming the players anymore, and despite claims to the contrary by most NFL observers, they are no longer scared to lose anyone on the coaching staff.