Steelers Film Room: Kenny Pickett's Yipps, Matt Canada's Calls
At some juncture, there comes a boiling point to this whole ordeal and amidst the "Fire Canada" chants after an atrocious situational play call, it may have gone past the boiling point, at least for Pittsburgh Steelers fans.
What makes evaluating both Kenny Pickett and Matt Canada fairly though is how both seem to self-destruct when the other has set each other up.
What does that mean? Well, it's time to find out.
Positives
Yes, there were indeed positive aspects to take away from this game from both Pickett and Canada, though it definitely was not enough to overshadow the garbage pile of bad from both. That said, it's really encouraging when a player in his second season is able to learn from mistakes on the fly, and Kenny Pickett definitely had his moments in this regard.
This was arguably his best sequence in Week 3. After initially passing up the sail route to the field side and checking it down, which led to a terrible fumble by Gunner Olszewski. Later in the game the Steelers pretty much run it back with the same concept, and Pickett drills the sail with anticipation and placement.
Because the underneath defender has a bit of an outside shade, it makes the most sense to place the ball inside away from that leverage, as it will also protect his receiver George Pickens from taking a big hit. It was very relieving to see Pickett hit this play after missing it initially early in the game.
Canada also had a great play call that recognized both the situational football and the look the Browns defense was showing.
On the first play, the defense only has three on the defensive line, but it's clear to see pre-snap with how bunched up the Browns linebackers are here that they're sending at least two more. Sione Takitaki is responsible for the running back here, who slips into the flat towards the field side, while the rest of the receivers run short crossing routes to clog up the linebacker from scrapping over to Warren.
The second play also works versus man with both tight ends acting to clear out Austin running the underneath crosser on the mesh concept with Jaylen Warren potentially having a key block to spring it free.
This is good stuff because both of these plays encourage conflict for the defense and attacks the defensive look they wanted. In the underneath passing game and screen game Canada actually does a decent job of creating conflict with the opposing defenders, but his problems often arise everywhere else.
Pickett's Yips and Canada Not Helping
As mentioned earlier, Pickett definitely had his fair share of learning from mistakes moments, but some of these often did not translate into the box score because his accuracy ended up being so scattershot most of the night.
It also doesn't help that Pickett was getting careless with where his eyes were leading him.
This is such a frustrating play because it's very easy to initially blame Pickett for this with how deliberately his eyes gravitate towards Pickens on the slant. The problem here is Canada does not put the safety Grant Delpit into any conflict at all here, which makes it very easy for him to pass this off to the defensive leverage and follow Pickett here.
Not only is this not creating any conflict, it's downright lazy play-calling. Triple slants from the field side with the tight end running towards the defensive leverage is about as bottom-of-the-barrel play call as it gets. Sure Pickett maybe should come off this, but where is he going with this ball? The hitch backside to Allen Robinson isn't the worst option, but there is really not much to work with here. This ball is coached to be out quickly on a play like this.
Of course, Pickett isn't absolved of any blame. In fact, a lot of it absolutely rides on his shoulders.
This is something Pickett was criticized for a ton coming out of college, and it continues to creep its head up in crucial situations. The quarterback has as clear of an A gap to be able to climb and either take off and run, or throw it downfield. Instead, Pickett drifts to his left, sees the defensive tackle beat Mason Cole, and then hits the panic button for an outside escape. This consequentially creates even more pressure, as it leaves Isaac Seumalo out to dry and leads to him sacking himself.
Another problem here is how slowly Pickett is to read out the coverage, which does not change at all post-snap. Deep middle safety often indicates a middle of the field closed which was as clear as possible pre-snap and even more clear post-snap. If he is able to recognize it's capped sooner, then the ball probably comes off his hand as Pickens is breaking off the out route before the pressure even gets there.
Also, note again the creativity from Canada as the field side is running double in breaking posts here which might have worked better versus a quarters defense. I might excuse this if you run this under center with play action to get the linebackers to come up and open the middle of the field, but what is even more bothersome is how there's no communication at all pre-snap when the coverage could not be more obvious.
There is no way to know if Pickett has the ability to audible out of plays pre-snap based on what he sees, but it is downright baffling that he is electing to read this out as long as he does. It is beyond frustrating when the coaching staff can see it as clear as day and does not elect to tell him.
If you combine this with the disastrous blocking up front in the run game, it is no wonder why the Steelers' offense looks broken.
There is no indication pre-snap that Pickett shifted the protection, yet the offensive line shifts the protection right, which leaves an unblocked rusher that he can't make miss and he ends up being sacked. This is baffling stuff to be happening to an offense that is now in year three under Canada.
It's not just the film though that backs this up. The advanced analytics also paint a very grim picture.
NFL Passing and Rushing Efficiency Chart
When so many things are going wrong like this, it means the offense is broken. When the quarterback is slow to process, his old habits are creeping up, the line cannot block, while the offensive coordinator has some very questionable play designs that are being made worse by the quarterback, it is just not working.
Main Takeaway
What little positives there were from Canada and Pickett can only do so little against the heaping trash pile sitting on the all-22. Broken pass protection, taking bad sacks, being slow to process the coverage, and atrocious play designs are inherent signs of not just bad execution, but what is a broken offense.
Going up against a much-maligned Raiders defense this coming week, the offense needs to get right. That goes for the offensive line's execution in the run game, the quarterback not sacking himself, and the play-caller not leaving him out to dry in the intermediate part of the field. This team cannot account every week on their defense scoring fourteen points off turnovers. It is not sustainable.
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