The Pittsburgh Steelers opted to make a major coaching change following their Week 11 loss to the Cleveland Browns. After watching his offense sputter and be outgained for the 10th time in the season, head coach Mike Tomlin decided enough was enough.
He waited as long as he possibly could, but he came to the realization that it was time to move on from offensive coordinator Matt Canada. Canada was fired, something many Steelers fans had been clamoring to see happen for months.
With Canada at the helm, the Steelers were routinely near the bottom of offensive production. Despite having some solid weapons in running backs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren, wide receivers Diontae Johnson and George Pickens and tight end Pat Freiermuth, Pittsburgh never got things going consistently on offense.
Some people questioned how much of the blame Canada should shoulder, as there is a large contingent that doesn’t believe in starting quarterback Kenny Pickett. The people in that camp quickly had any argument turned against them.
NFL News & Rumors: Kenny Pickett, Matt Canada, Mike Sullivan, Pittsburgh Steelers Updates
In the first game without Canada calling plays the Steelers’ offense moved up and down the field efficiently. During Canada’s entire tenure with the franchise, the offense didn’t surpass the 400-yard mark once. In the first game under Mike Sullivan, they gained 421 total yards.
Pickett threw for a season-high 278 yards, completing 24-of-33 attempts. While he didn’t throw a touchdown, which has been a concerning statistic for him in his career, he constantly put the team in a position to score points.
Eventually, those drives will need to be turned into touchdowns for Pittsburgh to find the success they believe capable of achieving. Johnson did drop what was a perfectly placed ball by Pickett that would have gone for a touchdown, so the opportunity was there.
What changed most with Sullivan calling plays compared to Canada? Pickett was able to attack the middle of the field. The throw to Johnson was one example of a great pass he delivered that was near the hash marks, an area of the field Canada’s play calling avoided like the plague.
As shared by Steelers fan Ock on X, formerly known as Twitter, Pickett was excellent working the middle of the field. He completed 9-of-11 attempts over the middle of the field, with one of the incompletions being the Johnson drop. When compared to the target chart in the game against the Green Bay Packers earlier this season under Canada, you can see the vast difference in play calling.
NFL News & Rumors: Kenny Pickett, Matt Canada, Mike Sullivan, Pittsburgh Steelers Updates
Another stark difference is the depth of the target. It wasn’t only against the Packers that Canada was limiting Pickett to throws near the boundary at the line of scrimmage; that was a staple of their offense.
11 of Pickett’s completions were beyond five yards from the line of scrimmage against the Cincinnati Bengals. In the game against the Packers, only four such passes went for completions. It certainly didn’t have a negative impact on his accuracy either, as Pickett had nine incompletions in each game.
If this new-look passing game under Pickett is here to stay, the Steelers are going to become an even more dangerous team to play against. With a strong running game headed by Harris and Warren, Pickett should find plenty of success continuing to push the ball down the field aggressively.
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