Steelers HC Mike Tomlin Detailed OC Matt Canada’s Improvement: 'He Got Better'

Tomlin had plenty to say at his year-end press conference on Monday, but as many know of the Steelers’ leader, he did not go into extreme detail about certain topics. One of those was the security of coaches on his staff. A reporter specifically asked about Canada and while the majority of the black and gold faithful would probably like to see him gone, Tomlin made sure to point out that he was pleased with the play caller’s performance down the stretch.

“I thought he got better,” Tomlin said. “Just like our team got better. I’m not going to speculate about him or anyone as I stand here today. I’m just beginning the process of transitioning in terms of wrapping a bow around it and looking and seeing what 2023 looks like. I’m just not there. We got some work to do, but largely I thought he got better in the ways that we got better. It was encouraging.”

Some may expect quarterback Kenny Pickett to have some kind of say in the decision, but yet again, Tomlin refused to dive into how he would approach the fresh and abrupt entrance to the offseason.

“I am not going to delve into the dynamics of my decision-making. It doesn’t serve me or us in any way to peel back that curtain.”

Offensive guard Kevin Dotson, whose job may be on the hot seat, was also very complimentary of the job that Canada did, especially following Week 8 when the Steelers offense as a whole came alive.

“The bye week definitely opened up a lot of people’s eyes to his true vision because we had that sit-down  [talking about] what he expects and what he wants to happen in the future. And [Coach] Tomlin supplemented that with his vision and I think that helped us all,” Dotson said.

There has been a ton of criticism during Canada’s tenure that his play-calling is extremely predictable. Running Back Najee Harris doesn’t buy that narrative and thinks that all NFL teams do the same things.

“Everybody’s saying that he called the same plays, but everybody calls the same plays, you know what I mean? You can look at everybody everywhere. Everybody calls the same plays. He’s dressed up a different way. If you really know Xs and Os, that’s really what it is,” Harris said.

It’s hard to speculate on Canada’s future. He was clearly incompetent the first year-and-a-half of his tenure, but the offense was significantly better in the second half of the season. Is he the guy that Tomlin trusts with the future of the young, potentially explosive offense? Time will tell.