Encouraged by debut calling plays from sideline, Steelers OC Matt Canada ready for encore
Share this post:
When Matt Canada worked from the sideline Thursday night as Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator, he wasn’t totally unfamiliar with the experience at Acrisure Stadium.
In 2020, his first year with the organization, he spent every game on the sideline as the Steelers quarterbacks coach.
And he worked from the sideline in 2018 when he was the interim head coach at Maryland.
But as far as calling plays, Canada had done it exclusively from the coaching box in his pro and college career until Steelers coach Mike Tomlin had him move to the field last Thursday against the Tennessee Titans.
“There are pluses and minuses to all of it,” Canada said Thursday at his weekly media session. “Upstairs, you see things. On the field, you have more face-to-face (interaction). We made a decision to find a way to play better, and obviously the results worked out, so it was great.”
With the Steelers having perhaps their most complete offensive performance of the season — albeit to the tune of just 20 points — Canada will call plays from the sideline again Sunday when the Steelers play the Green Bay Packers.
“We played well, and the results are what it is,” Canada said. “I don’t know how much it had to do with it, but we were happy with the result and we’ll continue to do it.”
Steelers players, including quarterback Kenny Pickett, seemed receptive to the idea of having personal interaction with their offensive coordinator on the sideline as opposed to getting information over a headset from the press level.
“That’s all that matters,” Canada said.
Not that he probably had much choice in the matter, but Canada said he was receptive to the change when it was broached by Tomlin in the days leading up to the Titans game. Canada said the only disadvantage to calling plays from field level is not being able to immediately get the down and distance after a play occurs on the far side of the field. Offensive assistant Glenn Thomas remained upstairs and was able to help remove that obstacle.
“All we’re trying to do is win,” Canada said. “We’re always hunting different things and different deals with that. When I was upstairs — or am upstairs — talking to Kenny is no different. We can talk, (but) the ability to talk to the other guys to make sure we were together was something we felt was a bonus for us to do.
“We’re going to look at every single track to make things better and continue to find ways to win. It’s another avenue to see if we can play a little bit better.”
Progress was made on several fronts:
• The Steelers rushed for a season-high 166 yards, getting 88 from Jaylen Warren and 66 (plus a rushing touchdown) from Najee Harris.
• The Steelers had a 50% efficiency rate (6 of 12) on third down for the first time this season. This after the offense converted seven times on third downs combined in games against the Los Angeles Rams and Jacksonville Jaguars.
• The Steelers totaled a season-best 22 first downs, and their 326 yards represented the second-highest total of the season.
• Playing behind a line that had rookie Broderick Jones starting at right tackle, Pickett wasn’t sacked and was hit just two times.
“The communication between me and coach was great. I think it was awesome,” Pickett said. “After we had our conversation on what we wanted to do in the next series, he was able to go and kind of talk to each position group and kind of give them what we’re looking to do that next drive. I think that was huge. There’s a lot of positives that came away from it. I think we can continue to build on that.”
Wide receiver Diontae Johnson didn’t see any change in the plays called by Canada or how the information was relayed to the huddle.
“It’s the same to me whether they are in the box or not,” he said. “At the same time, it’s helping us. If he’s down there, we can go straight to him if we have a question or if we see something. We can go right up to him and say what we need to say.”
The Steelers offensive players will get that chance again Sunday.