PITTSBURGH — Mike Tomlin spent the majority of his regular Tuesday news conference explaining the surprising — only because the Pittsburgh Steelers have refused to fire coaches in-season in the past — dismissal of offensive coordinator Matt Canada.
Tomlin hit all the talking points like a good public speaker does. But in reality, at this point, he could have gotten in front of the podium and said: “Yada yada yada, we have dismissed Matt Canada,” and would have been lauded by ecstatic Steelers masses around the world.
“This is a results-oriented business, and to be short, the improvements weren’t rapid enough or consistent enough for us to proceed,” Tomlin said instead.
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You can’t argue that. But guess what? The improvement wasn’t there a month into the season, either. Neither were the points. And yet, Canada kept his job. The bye week came and went, and Canada kept his job. If you want to nitpick, the offense did look better the previous two games before playing the Cleveland Browns, who have a defense Tomlin gushed about afterward, and even against the Browns, the Steelers rushed for 172 yards.
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Canada’s departure had to do with one thing, and one thing alone: Kenneth Shane Pickett.
Pickett has regressed rapidly over the past month, culminating with one of the poorer throwing performances you will see last Sunday at Cleveland, with some passes as many as 15 or 20 yards off target.
That is when enough became enough.
#Steelers Mike Tomlin not worried about Kenny Pickett big picture, it’s about winning this week pic.twitter.com/esXvRDzznO
— 93.7 The Fan (@937theFan) November 21, 2023
Whether it was Tomlin’s decision (I highly doubt it was, even though Tomlin said it was “mine and mine alone”) or it came from the top from owner Art Rooney II (who has been known to stick his nose into coordinator hirings and firings before), it matters not. It was done in hopes of salvaging the first-round investment in Pickett, regardless of how Tomlin painted the picture on Tuesday.
“I am focused on this week in terms of the development of Kenny,” Tomlin said when asked if the final seven games are critical in Pickett’s long-term development. “We are not urinating on the fire, man. We are getting ready for a football game and win this week. That is the only agenda here. It is not the big picture and 2024 and all of that. This organization is not wired like that.”
Tomlin always says he can get himself to believe anything. Well …
The Steelers are still firmly in the race in both the division and the conference. They are 1 1/2 games out of first in the AFC North and in position for the seventh and final playoff seed in the AFC, with a schedule that isn’t very brutal on paper: Cincinnati, Arizona, New England, Indianapolis and Cincinnati again, with backup quarterbacks playing in as many as four of those games.
The conference doesn’t have a truly dominant team like in years past, which means getting into the postseason as a lower seed isn’t a death sentence. So, it makes sense to have that mentality of winning games, getting into the playoffs and then seeing what happens.
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But firing Canada is bigger than that.
Like head coaches, the Steelers don’t dip into the quarterback pool very often, and when they do, they expect them to stay around for a while. First-rounders Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger combined to play 31 of the past 54 seasons. All six of the team’s Super Bowls came during their tenures.
So, after the Steelers put every ounce of scouting resources into Pickett two years ago, hoping he would be the next Bradshaw or Big Ben, he shouldn’t be tossed to the side.
While Pickett has some glaring issues, they aren’t giving up on him yet. Now, my question is: If they felt that strongly about him, why not move on from Canada last January and start fresh with as many as four years left on Pickett’s rookie deal? But that’s for another day and another time.
The question that has to be asked now is: Is Pickett salvageable? Can his shattered psyche be fixed after 19 months with Canada?
Rooney thinks so. Tomlin sure thinks so.
“Because I work with him every day,” Tomlin said. “I have been transparent with you guys about him and his willingness to work and my experience and what that tells me. He works extremely hard. There is a such thing as football justice, and those guys usually get what they are looking for, so that’s why I remain consistently optimistic about the trajectory of his growth and development.”
Time will tell that, but time might have already done its damage. Pickett is a broken quarterback who has regressed significantly in his second year.
Consider this:
• Over Pickett’s past seven games, he has just 1,033 yards passing (147.6 yards per game), two touchdowns and one interception.
• Pickett has six touchdown passes all season. Cowboys cornerback Daron Bland has four pick sixes.
• There have been 315 quarterbacks that have 500 pass attempts since the 1970 merger. Pickett ranks last with a 1.9 percent TD rate, according to CBS.
• Pickett is averaging 6.1 yards per attempt and 10.1 yards per completion.
• He has thrown only 22 passes at least 20 yards down the field.
• Against the Browns, he did not total 100 yards until his final throw.
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Whether it was all Canada’s fault or not, we shall soon see, but 23 games into a first-round quarterback’s career is a lifetime to many. By then, you usually know who the great ones are like Patrick Mahomes and Roethlisberger, and you know who Jake Lockers and Brandon Weedens are, as well.
There are outliers, like Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa, but those don’t come around often. QBs usually grow right away, or teams discard them on the scrap heap. That’s not the Steeler Way, but what exactly is the Steeler Way any more? Isn’t the Steeler Way to be patient and conservative?
With Pickett, they have no choice. They must keep him for the next two years and maybe even pick up his fifth-year option. If not, it’s back to the drawing board, and they don’t want to go there.
But how much can we expect out of this offense? It’s going to be the same plays, just schemed up differently by running backs coach/interim offensive coordinator Eddie Faulkner and called differently by quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan. It’s not like they are going to throw the playbook out in Week 12 and start new. It’s difficult for the new guys to fix flaws in the scheme at this point of the season.
So, if they do struggle and they don’t look that much better, that’s OK.
What this is all about is Pickett. He has to fix himself, too.
In college, Pickett had a reputation for not trusting his protection, and that’s been obvious in the pros as well. Sullivan worked extensively with Pickett on that during the summer. He wanted to see Pickett move up in the pocket and slide to the right or left rather than just getting out of the way, whether the pressure he felt was real or not.
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"Doesn't always trust the protection"
"Pocket presence remains a work-in-progress"
"Skittish tendencies"
These phrases were in Pickett's college scouting report and are still relevant today. The OL and OC haven't helped build up his confidence either. https://t.co/etfPMQh3Lt
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) November 21, 2023
It worked in the preseason. Not so much during the regular season.
Many have blamed Canada’s scheme and play calling, and there’s some truth to that. But Pickett needs to take responsibility, hang in the pocket and not be influenced by pressure that’s just not coming. That’s not going to change until he decides it is going to change.
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The Steelers sided with their quarterback on this one, make no mistake about it. Pickett’s fate was central to this decision, even though he likely didn’t hear of the firing until he checked social media while at the team facility on his day off.
It might be too late for Pickett, but it helps to have seven non-Canada games remaining this season to try to answer that question.
(Photo of Matt Canada, right, and Kenny Pickett: Gene J. Puskar / Associated Press)
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