No bones about it: Offense runs through QB
It didn’t take long Tuesday for Matt Canada’s critics to howl. He barely had finished talking to the local media for the first time since he was promoted to Steelers offensive coordinator in January when the first complaints came rolling in to my email. They were as harsh as they were predictable.
“Another coach deferring to Big Ben! When is someone with the Steelers going to have the guts to stand up to Roethlisberger and do what’s right for the team and not just what Ben wants?”
The blowback couldn’t have taken two minutes after Canada’s comments about his working relationship with Roethlisberger were made public on social media. Actually, I’m surprised it took that long. “We’re going to do what Ben wants to do and how Ben wants to do it,” Canada said,
explaining his plans for the Steelers offense. “His voice, his vision, what he sees is what we’re going to do.”
Canada had plenty of interesting things to say about a variety of topics. He spoke glowingly about Mike Tomlin, calling him “such a tremendous head coach.” He had high praise for JuJu Smith-Schuster, who spoke last week of wanting to play outside instead of in the slot. “The great thing about JuJu is he loves to win. Obviously, JuJu can do a lot of different things.” And he really, really likes Najee Harris. “His skill set in the passing game and run game, his football intelligence is really high and his ability to learn is awesome. I think he’s going to have a tremendous season and a tremendous career.”
But it was Canada’s thoughts about Roethlisberger that drew the most attention and the most feedback.
“The quarterback is the focal point, and it’s the greatest position in all of sports, in my opinion, because of all the things you have to do,” Canada said. “Ben, it starts with the quarterback. What does he do well? What does he like? What does he see? What is good to his eye in the passing game? Then we build off of that. That’s what we’re going to do.”
That doesn’t mean the Steelers won’t run the ball more — and more effectively — and rely on fewer passes from Roethlisberger. “Mr. [Art] Rooney [II] has sent out a very clear directive … we want to be able to run the ball when we have to run it,” Canada said.
It also doesn’t mean Roethlisberger won’t be asked to play under center instead of in his preferred shotgun. “If you’re going to run the football, I think play-action is very, very important,” Canada said of the advantage of the quarterback playing under center. “Ben can do everything really well. I don’t have any concern about Ben doing anything that we want to do.”
It just means Canada is going to take advantage of Roethlisberger’s knowledge and experience from 17 seasons in the NFL and not try to force something down his throat.
Canada would be a fool not to take that approach.
That’s why I loved Canada’s first public comments.
Ialso know Roethlisberger will do his part to make it all work.He is beyond the need for any personal accolades at this point of his Hall of Fame career.All he wants to do is win.He is as competitive as any Pittsburgh athlete I’ve known.He hated how last season-ended with the Steelers being-embarrassed by the Cleveland-Browns in a home playoff loss and with him throwing four interceptions. He agreed totake a $5 million pay cut to comeback to provide a different ending to his story.
I expect big things from
Roethlisberger this season, even though I realize that isn’t a universal opinion.
It helps that Roethlisberger isn’t starting from scratch with Canada, who was the quarterbacks coach last season. It isn’t like when Todd Haley replaced Bruce Arians as offensive coordinator after the 2011 season and struggled to build a bond with Roethlisberger.
“I learned a lot from Ben,” Canada said of last season, his first as an NFL assistant after a long career in college coaching. “I enjoyed the process of learning how he does things, what he likes, what he doesn’t like, how he practices, how competitive he is. You try to help where you can.”
Sounds like Canada has the perfect plan for success.
The critics be damned.