The Matt Canada Problem

oh boy there's trouble in Steel City and it ain't looking pretty after escaping Baltimore into the buy this Pittsburgh offense has meandered and sputtered its way into the 2023 season becoming one of the League's most difficult watches even for me Steelers fans have been calling for offensive coordinator Matt ked's head for two seasons now and while there's some validity to their frustration the story is actually much bigger than that but let's start it off with Public Enemy Number One in Pittsburgh as an offensive coordinator your job is to make moving the ball as deadly and as efficient as possible creating plays to out scheme a defense and make the most of your Playmakers for the most part Canada has tried to replicate the trend of the modern NFL utilizing motion to reveal defenses and one four sets to try an outmatch split Zone coverages however one of the biggest problems is that so much of this seems to disappear on those crucial third Downs it's third and seven early in the game against Baltimore and the Steelers line up and Slot right it's it's too high look shown by the Ravens yet Pittsburgh does nothing to reveal the coverage for Picket leaving him to work out the alignment all on his own as the D rolls into a cover one Robber pet does a decent job to try to pick somebody out that might come open firing a ball to his rookie Target Calvin Austin in reality though this throw is such a ridiculously difficult ball for a third and seven scenario and even with some good timing on the throw Austin slips and the pass Falls incomplete the slip and the throw Choice shouldn't be the focus here though just observe how stale of a look this is there's nothing implemented to help out their young QB on a crucial third down nothing to help reveal the coverage nothing to Cross or pick the man coverage no man or Zone options depending on the look and truthfully everything presented is just a stale combination of some very simple routes against the 49ers this time into the first third down of the game after using motion on the first two snaps you'd most likely expect to see it again helping to add momentum and Intel to reveal the coverage on the third in medium but picket is once again left to work out the 49ers coverage purely by alignment it's easier to guess based on alignment here with the 49ers playing quarters and there's actually a couple of options available huanga is going to sink so the post shot to the house is open and the box is preoccupied with protecting deep allowing the Deep hitch to be a viable option if picket can read it but without the Intel and a slow processor picket invites the rush and no amount of dancing is allowing him to run away from this scary ass D line and back to that Ravens game with the Steelers wanting to get more than a field goal they've got a long third down to convert but once again the motion disappears and picket is left with a difficult to high look to read this could easily be covered two or four or six and in a long third down scenario you don't want to leave this knowledge up to guesswork you want to help your dude out in this case it's actually two man which makes the play call even worse like why is every everyone just running hitches to the sticks what does Matt kadaa think this is actually going to do against the top defense does he think the Defenders are all going to magically drift off and give this up like what's wrong with bro there's no motion to help no rub Concepts to help free anybody and again picket just holds it allowing Baltimore to execute a great stunt flushing him right and forcing a throwa away and to be honest I think it might be the play design that annoys me the most about Canada's offense there just seems to be some straight dumbfounding design Naj is going to start out wide and motion into his regular backfield position and with the Texans sliding with it the cover three isn't too difficult to spot the Steelers are running a play action two route shot play attempting to overload the right boundary but there's just so much wrong with the design here firstly n will play action and Chip the right end with the center faking the play action and pulling the opposite way but let's be honest you ain't fooling nobody with that he's got picket rolling away from the shot to his left and he's got a knack for going left as as discussed in our rookie report but this only adds to the difficulty of completing a cross field throw and because the play action doesn't actually do anything to sell the Run Jimmy Ward playing the flat simply climbs with frm and cuts off his Corner route n seems to be tasked with chipping the right end and neither Washington nor boyin leak Into the Now wide openen flat instead boyin actually leaks out to the short side immediately being covered and leaving picket with nowhere to go again the slow developing design allows pressure to get through and picket is forced into another throwaway if you're a part of the thinking football Discord and if you ain't you better go follow us over on patreon for that you'll know I'm a big fan of the Twan route Concepts but Canada's just seem so disjointed they're going to fake a stretch left and the play action is better designed this time but the routes just have no chance of getting open the two boundary receivers are running sail routes into a three deep Zone with the corners already 10 yards off the line of scrimmage how are you expecting this to get open at least one of these needs to cross the field to try to drag some coverage somewhere else or pickets got no chance Kenny reads quickly that this was over before it even started checking it down to n but the balls dropped and here's more strange play calling if you've got a poor offensive line I really don't think calling four verts with Miles Garrett in Solo coverage is going to do anything but go poorly and of course he beats Dan Moore like a damn drum and forces Kenny to scramble the Browns are in man and with no Crossing routes to create a rub this is yet another throwaway for the young QB on Third and medium this time the Ravens stand six men up at the line but will actually send seven dropping players into Windows according to the rules of cover zero and if you're curious about what that entails there's plenty of information available in the previous season's Ravens video now with this much stand up pressure pre- snap you're likely seeing man or potentially a 33 fire zone but none of the routes here look designed to beat either structure the line has most of this blocked up but Kenny doesn't see the other Corner coming off The Blind Side too and takes a bone crunching sack and well this this is just inexcusable the defense has got the Steelers offense in the Red Zone with a strip sack and only a field goal is needed to win but the Steelers somehow some way proceed to give up nine yards and a chance due to a nonsensical formation after kneeling twice the steel was wanting to get the ball to the left hash to help their kicker but completely screw it up for some reason pick it takes a full four yards to get from right to left hash adding insult to injury the Steelers have lined up in an illegal formation which not only cost them another 5 yards but stops the clock at 52 seconds getting this right would have cut off any chance of the Ravens winning with only a Stanford band play available to them instead they gave them almost 50 seconds to drive luckily for them though the defense showed up this video is sponsored by DraftKings the season is in full swing and another actionpack weekend lies ahead so we've partnered with the official daily fantasy sports partner of the NFL to get you closer to the action download the DraftKings app using my promo code think and join in on the fun with an initial deposit of $5 new customers can play for a share of millions in total prize you heard that right new customers can get in on the action right now with an initial deposit of just $5 all you got to do to play is draft your roster and let those players score you points on Sunday it's as easy as that so what are you waiting for download the DraftKings app now new customers use my promo code think and play free for a share of millions in total prizes with just a $5 deposit on the DraftKings app that's promo code think only at DraftKings as frustrating as Canada's offense can be a watch problems have only been exacerbated by their main man under Center not every play is poorly designed and there's plenty of play stolen from other offenses but Pet's ability to read a defense Still Remains poor fouth will motion from left to right and with huanga following him the man coverage is pretty easy to read however picket isn't going to attempt to scan and find the open man he just locks on to Deontay Johnson despite the blanket coverage and throws up an ugly ball he has no chance of getting more lock on here against the Ravens with picket not even appearing to try to find the weakness Hayward motions from slot to slot here and with only a shift the Ravens appear in zone pigs got three options here really with Hayward smartly widening his rout before finding the windows between the underneath Austin's open on the quick hitch underneath and N in the flat with space to attack but he once again stares down his route Pickins is running a pogo route that's opposed to he'll turn into a go but with the safety and half field coverage this is completely out leveraged picket still launches the ball anyway and it Sails Long with no chance of a completion the lack of Rhythm and reads has led to picket being skittish in the pocket adding a poor offensive line he's been dealing with since he entered the league and you can tell Kenny just does not trust what's going on around him the Raiders have everybody up showing the cover zero look but are going to back out of it into a Tampa two spooked by the corner stand flat and threatening to take away the quick out option he thought would be open Kenny lowers his head and looks to scramble immediately rather than getting his eyes backside and finding a wide open alen Robinson instead he pushes himself into the path of Max Crosby then tries his best to just throw this away against Houston Kenny once again tries to bail rather than slide or throw Calvin Austin is going to come open but feeling some inside pressure so Kenny decides to 18 180 and Escape for all the young QBs out there you got to take this habit out of your game because if you want to play at a serious level the defensive ends are just too fast if Kenny slides and works up through the pocket here he finds the easy completion and the Steelers keep the drive going but instead he feels the pressure strongly and doesn't trust his guard instead spinning himself into a sack again against the Raiders and picket really is seeing ghosts the Steelers are in a 1-4 set splitting pickings out wide on his own knowing they could draw a one-on-one matchup for their the best guy on third down Pickins turns the Corner's hips with a nice release then cuts across the corner to create a wide open slant for pick it to throw but he just stares at it then panics his way back and left he does a good job to try to link with Austin here who's turned his Fade to a comeback but a high throw leads to another drop and this one right here probably illustrates it the best Hayward is sitting wide open ready to find but despite seeing him picket has to leave the pocket Before He'll throw it this is a man who isn't trusting what he's seeing and you got to win from the pocket in the NFL but perhaps the biggest problem for Picket is really his lack of accuracy this has been a problem from college and honestly it's not gotten any better there are just too many gimmies missed to be an efficient offense for the Steelers the ners are in cover four here trying not to let the Steelers In The End Zone before the half is over and Deontay Johnson is going to do a great job to make green law hesitate cross his face and have a clear path to the End Zone picket spots it but fires low and behind allowing green law to make a play if he leads his man right here this is a score and here it is again against the Browns Pickins is wide open on the three-step slant thanks to the off coverage but picket is again too low and in front this time driving this straight into the ground and while he's hit a couple his accuracy in throwing this post shot has been all over the place huanga is going to sink down in quarters to take the tight end when once he climbs over the linebacker level leaving a post shot open for Picket to hit Pickin but it's miscalculated and this flies way long and a similar situation against Houston here again that post shot is going to come open with inside leverage but picket puts too little air under it this time allowing Steven Nelson to make a great play for the interception overall it just doesn't feel like the accuracy is there for him to be a consistent chain mover it's just really difficult to design an offense when your QB can't hit the easy layups like this Sprint option should be the easiest play in the book for a QB and Kenny's rolling to his favored left side he just somehow Skies it so what can be done to solve this issue well first the motion and shifts need to be consistent across the offense and not disappear on crucial Downs you've got to help your quarterback out when it matters most and the offense is honestly failing to do so there's also a distinct lack of play action Ed in general now the Steelers as I said have not been great at running the ball but the threat still helps move Defenders creating open passing lanes and easier reads for a quarterback when the Steelers do use play action they look to gain some Rhythm often booting Kenny out left or right for a flood concept but currently they rank 29th in play action again coaches help your Young quarterback out while I don't think Canada has done anything to deserve keeping his job there's two issues I see with firing him if you do you need a replacement and an idea about what your vision for the offense is going to be moving forward and two you've got to find a way to get picket playing better because right now he's not holding up his end of the deal and frankly it looks like this offense is going nowhere thanks for watching if you enjoyed this video why not check out last week's on the LI spicy offense or check out our full breakdown on how motion breaks defenses take care

Channel: Thinking Football

Views: 67,364

Keywords: NFL, NFL Highlights, all 22, Film Study, NFL breakdown, Thinking Football, Coaches Film, Scouting Report, NFL Draft, Film Breakdown, College football, Steelers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Kenny Pickett, Matt Canada, Pittsburgh vs Baltimore, Steelers vs Ravens, George Pickens, Pickett, Canada, Matt, Kenny, Steelersnation

Id: tUVaIByxT_Q

Length: 14min 2sec (842 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 20 2023