For the first time in 58…FIFTY EIGHT games, the Pittsburgh Steelers amassed 400+ yards on offense. That hasn’t happened since Week 2 of the 2020 NFL season.
That never happened once during Matt Canada’s reign as offensive coordinator, which began at the start of the 2021 season and ended on Tuesday, when the Steelers did something they had not done since the 1941 season and fired a coach mid-season.
It’s absolutely no coincidence that the infamous streak of 58 games without 400+ yards on offense ended IMMEDIATELY after Canada was shown the door. It’s nothing against his personal character, but it’s a real indictment on how he ran an NFL offense.
In his place, Eddie Faulker, who earned the title of offensive coordinator, and Mike Sullivan, who calls the plays on game day, engineered a game plan that involved everything Canada’s lacked. And that began on the very first play.
Kenny Pickett does what Steelers fans have been trained to think was impossible: 1) use the middle of the field and 2) throw to a tight end.
Both concepts, which are a vital part of any healthy NFL offense, were features of the Faulker-Sullivan scheme today. Pat Freiermuth had a career best 120 receiving yards on 9 catches, and was by far Pickett’s favorite target in the win.
The new system also allowed a much improved Najee Harris to take control in this game. Harris had 99 yards on 15 carries, and ran it in for the Steelers’ only touchdown of the day.
In all, this was not the most impressive game. The Steelers allowed Cincinnati to stay in this game the whole time, and missed opportunities on offense disallowed further points on the board.
The Diontae Johnson drop in the endzone, which the broadcast said if challenged would have been overturned, and the Jaylen Warren fumble stick out as miscues on the field for Pittsburgh.
But in typical Steelers fashion, they took advantage of splash plays made on defense, and this time, it was enough for the win.
Trenton Thompson came up massive with his interception of Cincinnati’s Jake Browning, which was the catalyst for a Pittsburgh touchdown at the other end of the field.
And the big names did big name things for the Steelers on defense. TJ Watt sacked Browning twice. Cam Heyward got involved with a sack. And Nick Herbig blew up Browning to add a fourth sack for the Steelers defense.
And they did a tremendous job stopping the Bengals’ run. Cincinnati’s leading rusher was Joe Mixon, who had a whopping 16 yards on the ground.
To be quite honest, there is not a whole lot to say about this particular game. It was an ugly, typical 16-10 win, but there should be a lot of optimism for the rest of the season after today.
The score is deceptive; if you hadn’t watched, you would have never guessed the Steelers had 421 total yards on offense, and that Kenny Pickett threw for 278 yards.
But the Steelers made significant progress on offense today; they had a little bit of everything. A decent run game, usage of the middle of the field, tight ends catching, a deep shot to George Pickens. All the things that are going to make Pittsburgh’s offense successful once they start to gel more in the post-Canada era.
And as for Kenny Pickett in particular, he looked much better as well. No touchdown passes for him, but his 278 passing yards is the second highest total of his career, and the best mark since his first NFL start last season.
This play should not abstain Pickett of his earlier struggles, but it does certainly make you believe that the problems were much more Canada-related than Pickett-related. He still needs to be better, and hopefully in more weeks we can see him play more consistently and add in some touchdown passes as well, but nevertheless, this was a good start.
More thoughts down below:
-You know the funny part of that whole 58 game streak? It started back early in the 2020 season. Matt Canada was not yet the OC for the Steelers, but he was the QBs coach in 2020. This streak started literally as soon as he got here, and ended literally as soon he left.
-Najee Harris was definitely the better running back today. Even without the Warren fumble, Harris still would have well outperformed him. This is the kind of Harris that we need to see all the time. Imagine how dangerous they will be when both are clicking at the same time.
-Diontae Johnson somewhat redeemed himself after the endzone drop, and unacceptable lack of effort on the Warren fumble. But will it be enough to clear him of criticism this week? I very highly doubt it. That’s how bad the fumble play was by DJ.
-I love, love, LOVE, the usage of Pat Freiermuth in this game. Yes, he is now back and fully healthy, which is a huge plus to anyone calling a game for the Steelers. But let’s not sit here and pretend like Canada would have had the ball going to Freiermuth this much in the game.
-The Steelers did a good job of converting on third down today. The Steelers went 8/17 on third down, which was far and away better than the Bengals’ 2/10.
-Kenny Pickett seemingly had the gloves taken off him today. He was playing like he was allowed to make tight window and middle of the field throws…you know, how an NFL QB should be allowed to operate?
–Odd stat of the game: We talk all about the streak of 58 games without 400+ yards, but Pittsburgh’s 421 yards against the Bengals today is actually their highest total since Week 16 of the 2018 season, in a firefight 31-28 loss to the New Orleans Saints.
(Featured photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
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