Steelers Former OC Matt Canada Did Kenny Pickett Dirty Through Lack Of Preparation, Says Terry Hanratty

The Pittsburgh Steelers are in uncharted waters  after their firing of Offensive Coordinator, Matt Canada following their Week 11 loss to the Cleveland Browns. The move was one that many felt was a long time coming, but whether or not it was deserved doesn't take away from the historical significance of the moment. The Steelers hadn't made an in-season coaching change since 1941, so to move on from Canada showed how challenging things had truly gotten. While there is an intense debate over who was the true problem, Canada or Kenny Pickett, a former Super Bowl-winning Steelers backup sees the fault lying at the feet of the now-fired coordinator.

Steelers Former QB Believes Canada Held Pickett Back

Terry Hanratty played for the Steelers from 1969 until 1975, backing up the legendary Terry Bradshaw through two Super Bowl victories. Regardless of his spot on the depth chart, Hanratty has enough NFL experience to understand what is actually happening on a football field rather than seeing it from a fan's perspective.

Pittsburgh's anemic offense has been a glaring issue for the Steelers ever since Canada became the offensive coordinator prior to the 2021 season. Ever since then, there have been few positive consistencies for the Steelers offense, but you could always count on tone-deaf play-calling and a general lack of scoring. With Mike Tomlin making the decision to let Canada go, the question for the 2023 Steelers now is whether or not that will add some fuel to a very small fire. 

Hanratty, on his Hanratty's Huddle podcast on Wednesday, talked about where the fault for Pittsburgh's offensive struggles should be placed, and he sees it as a coordinator problem rather than it being on Pickett's shoulders.

"Well, there were three times in that game [Browns] that I saw Pickett throwing screens against... we call them slow screens, but, in this, you know, all of the sudden, we get thrown for a loss because it was a man coverage, and the linebacker was right there. You have to teach the quarterback how to read defenses, and if you think it's man, you get out! There are other successful plays out there."

Pickett was seen as the most league-ready quarterback in the 2022 NFL Draft, but that doesn't mean the expectation should have been for him to waltz into professional football in one of the most demanding positions and just succeed and read defenses like a veteran. Canada's job was to put an offense on the field each week that was ready for what their opponents would do but also that was educated in how to properly run their own offense. 

Pickett has looked less and less like a player having fun out there in 2023, and if Canada wasn't preparing him properly for NFL defenses, then Hanratty is correct; the blame would lie directly at Canada's feet.

Steelers Looking To Right The Canada-less Ship

The Steelers will be playing football without Canada as the play-caller for the first time since the 2020 season in their 2023 Week 12 clash with the Cincinnati Bengals, and considering the lack of precedent for the Steelers making an in-season move like this, no one really knows what will happen.

Eddie Faulkner and Mike Sullivan will be forming the duo that will be responsible for the Steelers' offense, and it certainly can't be any worse than what we have all been witnessing. Under Canada, the Steelers never once had a 400-yard offensive game, they scored over 30 points twice (both losses), and Pittsburgh's scoring has dropped each season since Canada was brought on. The fans had enough, and finally, so did the franchise itself. Hanratty sees the move as the right one, considering where the fault was, but that doesn't mean he is picking the Steelers to make any real noise for the remainder of the 2023 season.

"The Steelers are basically .500, you know, I don't think they're gonna go much higher...I'd love to see 'em go, but you gotta be realistic about it."

While the Steelers may be new to this coaching change situation, but there are plenty of teams in the NFL with horror stories about the results following a major staff shakeup. Going into Week 12 of 2023, the energy is almost all positive in Pittsburgh, considering that Canada is gone, but there is still a football to play - against a divisional opponent, no less.

The horrible showing against the Browns in Week 11 was the nail in the coffin for Canada, and on Sunday, the Steelers will be in a very similar place. Cincinnati will be starting a backup quarterback with Joe Burrow done for the 2023 season, and while on the surface that seems like a welcome situation, the Browns had a rookie backup under center, and we know how that went.

This is no time for celebration. We had our moment when Canada was fired; this is a time for focus and preparation. We may not see the kind of Steelers production we all hoped for after the results of the 2023 preseason, but as long as we don't walk away from Week 12 of 2023 embarrassed, it will be a step in the right direction.

How many more games will the Steelers win in 2023 now that Canada is gone?