Pickett finds balanced offense with Canada on the field
by Bo Marchionte
Published November 3rd, 1:41 AM
Pittsburgh, PA – The Steelers offense came alive with Matt Canada exiting the booth and ditching his trademark trapper’s hat. Canada wore a regular baseball cap and called the offensive plays in the Steelers 20-16 win over the Titans.
“Again, we’re making moves with the intention of being better,” Mike Tomlin said when addressing his offensive coordinator. “So, we’ll see as we move forward.”
The Pittsburgh offense started quickly with the team scoring on their opening drive. Taking the ball 78-yards on 10 plays which ended in a 10-yard touchdown run by Najee Harris. Finishing with 69 rushing yards, which included Harris’s season long of 25-yards.
Churning out first downs early built momentum and confidence. Woeful starts and lackluster offensive performances have plagued this team all season but tonight against the 13th ranked defense of Tennessee in points allowed the Steelers’ running game was on point.
“It was good to see him down there but again I don’t know if it affected the game or how he called plays,” center Mason Cole said postgame. “It was good to see him down there.”
Cole explained Canada was able to relay certain things to the unit in real time and that’s Cole took away as a positive but wouldn’t go as far to say he knew if that was the reason the offense moved the football more effectively.
The duo of Harris and Jaylen Warren helped Pittsburgh obtain their highest team rushing total of the season with 166 yards on the ground. The pair was a solid one-two punch that helped the team to 22 first downs on the night, which also was a team high offensively in 2023.
“Really tonight was probably the first time to take a look at it because we had a more fluid start,” Tomlin said when interpreting if he likes the pair working well sharing the workload of the ground game. “So, yes, I do. I do.”
It’s the highest rushing total since Week 17 of last season when they ran for 198 yards against the Ravens in the 16-13 victory in Baltimore. No one will know if the success of the offense tonight can be attributed to Canada being on the field. However, no one can argue with the results.
Quarterback Kenny Pickett continued to play turnover free football as he reached his fourth consecutive game with an interception after throwing four in the Steelers first four games this season. A modest performance at best he went 19-of-30 for 160 yards passing with one touchdown.
“I thought the balance was great,” Pickett said. “I thought we had great balance all night. The run game working off the pass, vice versa, getting guys in some really good situations on the outside that helped open up the run. So, it was good having that balance.”
Diontae Johnson finally found the end zone as well which was sort of icing on the cake as they caught the pass late in the fourth quarter to put the Steelers ahead for good. Johnson has become Pickett’s main target since returning from his hamstring injury three weeks ago.
Over the course of his last three games, Johnson has caught 20 passes for 254 yards and snapped a twenty-game drought without a touchdown pass until Pickett found him against the Titans for the three-yard score.
“I think it makes a difference to look in somebody’s eyes face to face,” Calvin Austin said of Canada being on the sidelines. “I think we could all feel that difference.”
The difference was apparent. I’ve sat enough in the press box watching this offense spin its wheels and wallop in the abyss. The win was needed, and it was part of the change Tomlin mentioned in the post-game in trying to spice things up after things had gone stale.
Photo Credit Frank Hyatt/College2Pro.com
