Report: Steelers giving OC Matt Canada a more prominent role, will be more hands on with Kenny Pickett

The Pittsburgh Steelers are making a change on their coaching staff involving offensive coordinator Matt Canada.

No, it’s not what you think. Canada isn’t going anywhere, but rather will have a new role in addition to his play-calling duties. According to NFL insider Jordan Schultz, Canada will have a more prominent role in working with second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett on a daily basis.

“Canada will continue calling plays, but will also be working directly with Pickett on a daily basis,” Schultz wrote on Twitter. “The 51-year-old was hired in 2020 as QBs coach, and then promoted to coordinator prior to the 2021 season. Pittsburgh believes in Canada and they anticipate this making a big difference.”

Following two underwhelming offensive campaigns under Canada, the Steelers made the decision to run it back with the 51-year-old at the helm in 2023. Through two games, that decision has come under scrutiny, with this past Monday’s game arguably serving as the height of fans’ frustrations. Though the Steelers escaped with a 26-22 victory over the Cleveland Browns, the Steelers’ offense mustered up just 12 points and 255 total yards. In the fourth quarter, fans even began to chant “Fire Canada.” By the time the game came to an end, Pittsburgh had dropped to 31st in total offense.

Matt Canada, Kenny Pickett partnership slow out of the gate in 2023

Pickett in particular has struggled, throwing for 454 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions on 60.5% passing. His 19.9 QBR ranks last in the NFL among all 32 starting quarterbacks.

Without singling Pickett out, Canada contributed the offense’s struggles to a lack of execution.

“We’re not executing well enough,” Canada said ahead of Week 3 against the Las Vegas Raiders, via the team’s website. “If a play doesn’t work, it’s all of us, we gotta fix it. We’re gonna keep going and we’ll continue to fight and see if we can get those completions better, the runs better, all of it.

“Every facet of our game could be a little bit better. There’s no magical answer to this, I don’t believe, other than I’m very proud and excited about where our players are at with it. There’s nobody pointing fingers… Nobody throwing in the towel.

“We’re 1-1, we’re fortunate to be there, great job by a lot of components but we won a game against a really good team [on Monday night against Cleveland]. We’re gonna just keep fighting until we get it the way we had it in the summer, the way we had it in camp. We gotta get ourselves back to that and it’s a challenge for all of us and we’re working really hard to find what that is.”