‘Something Missing’: NFL Analyst Burns Steelers OC Matt Canada

The Steelers are hoping to turn around the narrative offensively in 2023, but there seems to be one commonality that concerns a lot of analysts. That is offensive coordinator Matt Canada, who has been shelled with vitriol over the offseason casting doubt on his ability to get the full use out of Pittsburgh’s offense.

Well, count PFF’s Steve Palazzolo in as one of the doubters as well. PFF has generally been more optimistic on the Steelers offense than most, but Palazzolo sees Canada as the biggest hurdle for a young offense that is trying to come together and have a breakout season.

Joining The Mina Kimes Show, Palazzolo threw some rain on the optimism of the Steelers offense because of Canada. A large part of it is because he simply does not see Canada designing a lot of things that are naturally easy to get a young offense going right out of the gate.

“Pickett looks great but it didn’t show up on the stat sheet and I think a lot of that comes down to Matt Canada,” Palazzolo said. “They finished strong but they don’t have a ton of easy stuff. The reason why everyone loves Kyle Shanahan is because of what he did with Brock Purdy and look at all of those open throws. But Pickett to Pickens has to be precise on back shoulders. Then, Kenny Pickett throws a seam route to Freiermuth and it’s like ‘woah, they have a middle of the field to attack, that’s amazing’.”

Palazzolo sees the Steelers personnel getting better. But notes that ‘something there is still missing’ from the offense, and it is a lack of easy layups for Pickett and his group of weapons. Simply put, he’s not the first one to say that, and Pickett threw the ball into tight windows as much as any quarterback a year ago, registering up above 20 percent in that metric. Part of could be Pickett’s decision making, but another part simply might be Canada’s lack of ingenuity in the offense.