Steelers Offense, Matt Canada Built Trust During Second Half Run

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers offense finished the 2022-23 season scoring 18.1 points per game - the 26th-best scoring average in the league. For many fans, blame begins at the top with offensive coordinator Matt Canada, the man who's led his unit

But the internal sentiment around Canada's work differs greatly from the exterior one. The Steelers started slow but surged in the second half to win seven of their final games after starting 2-6. The defense got healthy and took a leap forward to lead that late push but the offense showed signs of life and progress that left head coach Mike Tomlin "encouraged" by Canada and his unit.

Offensive lineman Kevin Dotson said the Steelers started in a low place. He thinks Canada was handicapped because starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's resume allowed him the freedom to call many of his own plays. This year, with Roethlisberger out and rookie Kenny Pickett in, Canada ran the offense how he saw fit.

"I would say we got to see it at what he wanted it to look like," Dotson said. "The last year he couldn't do certain things and that just comes with the territory with a quarterback who had been in the league that long and been in one place this long. Can't really tell him what to do."

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Dotson claims the Steelers didn't have an identity or plays they could lean on to get them out of tight situations at the beginning of the year. The first half of the season felt directionless for the offense but as everyone got to know one another, things moved in the right direction and the collective confidence in Canada grew.

"My [confidence] definitely started increasing during the year. at the beginning of the year, everybody was iffy. Everybody was iffy on the o-line, iffy on everything and it definitely started building my confidence when I could start seeing a bit of the vision."

That "vision" Dotson referred to meant playing clean football and not letting the Steelers beat the Steelers. Dotson added it wasn't until the bye week that the offense could sit down, partake in some honest conversations and work out the kinks.

"I guess the bye week definitely opened up a lot of people's eyes to his true vision because we had that sit down about what he expects and what he wants to happen in the future," Dotson said. "And [Head coach Mike] Tomlin supplemented that with his vision and that definitely helped us all."

At that point, Dotson started to realize the confidence in Canada that he felt getting stronger was being reciprocated and his offensive coordinator was beginning to lean on his men up front more to help him win games. That's reflected in the renewed dedication to the run the Steelers used to get them back in the playoff hunt.

"Definitely for the offensive line, I could feel more confidence in us to get the job done," Dotson said. "Just the way he would talk to you in team meetings and stuff."

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