SCB Steelers Quick Hitters: The ‘Credit Where It’s Due’ Edition

Good Victory Monday to you Steelers fans.

Have I been clear enough that I’m not a fan of Matt Canada? He shouldn’t have been retained after last season and he should have been fired during the BYE week. Neither of those things happened however so Canada remains the offensive coordinator whether I like it or not. All this in mind, some fans need to recognize that even Matt Canada can get things right at times. I know… I know… It doesn’t happen often but when things start to click as they did in the second half yesterday, it really is OK to say that Canada got something right. This doesn’t mean you want him back in 2024 anymore than you want him back next week but he got some calls correct Sunday especially in the fourth quarter. This doesn’t take away from the fact that mid-way through the second half the offense had generated only 151 yards of offense and just three points. This has been a trend throughout Kenny Pickett’s 18 starts and it isn’t a trend we want to sustain. There are too many offenses that will stick to the run and too many defenses that will play better (See San Francisco and Houston games) making any late game heroics impossible. So for this day, give Canada his credit and move on.

The Call

The Steelers benefited from an extremely favorable spot on Kenny Pickett’s fourth quarter sneak. Even the most biased Steelers’ fan can acknowledge that the Rams got screwed. But the Rams and Head Coach Sean McVay ultimately screwed themselves by having no timeouts left. Had they had one, they would have been able to challenge the call. Because it was outside of the two minute warning the Rams had no recourse. You can rest assured that situations such as this one will be added to things that can be reviewed.

4-2… But How?

When you learn, it’s usually from failures. Rarely do you learn when you’re successful but the Steelers have won four times in six games and they’ve learned a lot in every victory. Whether it was the defense scoring twice to beat Cleveland or the Rams missing a PAT and two field goals, there’s no question the Steelers have found interesting ways to pull victory from the jaws of defeat. They shouldn’t apologize for it either.

Najee

At some point, Najee Harris has to accept that he is exclusively a ‘between the tackles’ running back right now. He’s too heavy and isn’t able to get around the corner when he goes wide. Sometimes this is the fault of the play call and other times it’s his fault for trying to bounce things outside. When he lowers his shoulders and goes north and south he’s going to gain positive yardage. The minute he starts going east and west? He’s toast.

We Have a Problem

Three of the top four tacklers in yesterday’s game were safeties. Minkah Fitzpatrick, Damontae Kazee and Keanu Neal led the Steelers in total tackles and that’s a problem. As we saw a couple of seasons ago, when the front seven struggles to stop the run, Minkah is forced into the box more and more to make stops. This reduces his opportunities to make plays on the back end. Cam Heyward can’t get back soon enough.

Nearly an Invisible Day

As the early games transpired in the NFL, I noticed Myles Garrett having a monstrous performance in Indianapolis. I thought for sure that would fuel the fire of T.J. Watt. Now to be fair, Watt had a huge interception that paved the way for the Steelers comeback but outside of that he was largely invisible. No sacks and only one tackle. It was very similar to his performance against Houston. LA tight end Tyler Higbee did a nice job on Watt in the run game and the Rams used numerous variations of blocking to keep him away from Stafford too. With the team returning home for three straight games I suspect we’ll see Watt pick up his play. And maybe the refs will call holding too.