Last season, the Pittsburgh Steelers offense floundered at times and it was easy to point the finger at offensive coordinator Matt Canada. Despite having a rookie quarterback, much of the problems moving the football and getting it into the end zone were blamed on Canada and his system.
But on Friday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the offense looked great. Pittsburgh put up 27 points, had a 33 and a 67-yard touchdown reception, a 14-yard touchdown rush and four rushes of 10 yards or more.
After practice on Monday, Canada defended his offense and instead put the credit to the improved execution of it for why things went right on Friday.
“We did all the things we did last year in that game, but it looked, with our ones,” Canada said. “It was clean, good, sharp, our execution was better.”
We definitely didn’t see anything groundbreaking from the offense on Friday but much of that can be attributed to the fact it is just the preseason. Even if Canada was planning any serious new wrinkles, he wasn’t going to show them ahead of the regular season. But it really seems like and we have no reason to believe otherwise, that the offense is going to look very much like last season’s. If Kenny Pickett improves and the offensive line plays better will Canada’s scheme be enough to keep up in the AFC? We will know soon enough.
