Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger Admits Matt Canada Didn't Coach QBs
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers ended their Matt Canada experiment early, firing the offensive coordinator prior to the end of his contract after struggles to get the team going with new quarterback Kenny Pickett.
Looking back, there were plenty of questions surrounding Canada's tenure with the Steelers, and one of his former quarterbacks is expressing another one. During the latest episode of his podcast Footbahlin', Ben Roethlisberger admitted it didn't feel as if Canada wanted to fully work with him during their time together.
"Right or wrong, maybe it was just the way he does it. Maybe he just didn't want to do it with me. I don't really know that," Roethlisberger said. "That was the first time I felt I wasn't working directly with the coordinator. It seems weird. Maybe that is why Kenny feels more comfortable with [Mike Sullivan]. Maybe the same thing was going on where Matt was more removed. 'I'm the coordinator. I'll coordinate. You work with Sully.'"
"Quarterback coaches are the go-between when you are butting heads with the coordinator," Roethlisberger added later on. "I’ve always worked closely with the coordinator, even when I had a quarterback coach. I didn’t feel that with Matt. It almost felt like Matt wanted to let the quarterback coach coach me."
Roethlisberger admitted he was surprised by the Steelers' decision to fire Canada during the season and is interested in seeing how they handle a two-coordinator system moving forward.
"I’ve never seen a team with two coordinators before," Roethlisberger said. "I would say this: as long as I’ve been there, I worked really closely with the offensive coordinator. That was intentional, almost to the point where I felt like, at one point, BA [Bruce Arians] early on didn’t want a quarterback coach."
Pittsburgh found some success in their first game without Canada, surpassing the 400-yard mark of total offense for the first time in 59 games. They'll look to grow from that performance as they approach the playoffs, with Sullivan and Eddie Faulkner running the show.
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