Matt Canada’s Incompetence Is Slowly Killing The Steelers
This one sort of went the way we expected it to, right? Everyone was thinking about it a little bit at least. The Steelers came out and laid an egg against a young and banged-up Texans team. The most Steelers letdown spot imaginable and they delivered. As they usually do.
Can The Matt Canada Experiment Come To An End Already?
After the Raiders game, many Steelers fans were slightly impressed with some of the concepts offensive coordinator Matt Canada drew up in Vegas.
This week? Canada went back to his old ways, drawing up and bunch of garbage while scanning his Denny’s menu up in the booth. The Steelers called a shotgun pass play on 4th & one that ended Kenny Pickett’s day with a knee injury that didn’t look great. So when does it end? Are we going to sit here and let Matt Canada and this offensive line put Pickett through a woodchipper every week?
Not only did the Steelers lose Pickett on Sunday in Houston, tight end Pat Freiermuth suffered a hamstring injury that ended his day early and Dan Moore hurt his knee, giving rookie Broderick Jones some of his first real experience in the NFL.
Steelers Offense Needs A Spark, Badly
While the entire internet has had fun poking at him lately, running back Najee Harris was one of the Steelers only offensive weapons that had a pulse this week. Harris rushed the ball 14 times for 71 yards and had one catch for 32 yards, getting him over 100 all-purpose yards for the day. While Thunder thrived, Lightning struggled. Jaylen Warren wasn’t able to get anything going on the day as he only posted eight attempts for 29 yards and six catches for 28 yards, fumbling the ball once.
Pickett looked mediocre on the day before his injury, although the Texans were in his lap all day, chasing him all around the field. Pickett finished 15/23 for 114 yards and an interception, being sacked three times. In relief of the injured Pickett, Mitch Trubisky went 3/5 for 18 yards. George Pickens was the main point of emphasis it seemed for Texans defensive backs, as they held him to just three catches on seven targets for 25 yards.
The two running backs Harris and Warren were the Steelers two leading receivers on the day. Not ideal. Stale offense. Needs a fresh start with a new coordinator as soon as possible, even Antonio Brown can see it.
Defense Went Silent
With the Texans having a depleted offensive line, many thought the Steelers two-headed monster of TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith were going to wreak havoc all day, but it didn’t happen. The Steelers combined for a big fat zero in the sack column. CJ Stroud and the Texans offense did their best 49ers impersonation, not taking a lot of risky shots and getting the ball out of Stroud’s hands early to neutralize the pass rush. It worked to perfection. Minkah Fitzpatrick? Total non-factor in Houston. Not to say it was all his fault, the Texans just took no risks with the pesky Steelers defense. The 49ers put out the blueprint on tape in week one of how to do it.
I fully expect the Steelers defense to bounce back strong next week against the division-rival Ravens. They always get up for the Ravens. The biggest question for next week as of right now is, who will we see at quarterback? Hopefully Pickett is fine, but there is a chance we see Trubisky next week at Acrisure against Baltimore, and hopefully, Money Mitch can have a better go of things this year against the Ravens in the event that we do see him. Just have to flush this one and move on, nothing else you can do at this point.
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