Former Steelers CB Ike Taylor's Revealing Answer On The One Man Responsible For Matt Canada's Return

The Pittsburgh Steelers have elected to retain Matt Canada as their offensive coordinator. The decision is made, and no amount of grousing or histrionics is going to change that fact. Fans are despondent but have little choice but to move toward acceptance. At some point this summer before opening day the feeling will turn to optimism and the hope that somehow Mike Tomlin and Omar Khan know something we don’t about Canada.

Ike Taylor played for the Pittsburgh Steelers for 12 seasons and played in three Super Bowls, winning two. Taylor was an immensely talented cover cornerback with bad hands that rarely gets the credit he is due outside of Pittsburgh as an elite defensive back. Taylor is now the host of the Bleav in Steelers podcast with Mark Bergin and lent support to the decision to retain the offensive coordinator.

“He bought him some life,” Taylor begins. “The reason why Matt Canada got himself a lifeline was the production of Kenny Pickett after the Thanksgiving holidays. Coming down in clutch moments, clutch calls and Kenny Pickett just making the best out of every situation. Kenny Pickett won a few games down the stretch for the Pittsburgh Steelers and you gotta just tip your hat off to Matt Canada.”

Rumors swirled that some of the game-winning throws Kenny Pickett made down the stretch were not a result of Canada play calls. They were, however, his plays. Pickett has not taken to drawing plays in the dirt like his predecessor, yet. There is no question that he made significant strides after the bye week, but time will tell if it was the coaching or Pickett’s talent that is responsible for those strides.

“What he did do is tune up the running game,” Taylor continues. “The offensive line group was the only group that played every snap together. When you have that, you have the camaraderie, it was tough during training camp (part of) the season. But now you have Najee Harris sticking his foot in the ground and going north and south, not east and west.”

Going into the bye week, fans were very unhappy with Najee Harris. Jaylen Warren was getting serious consideration outside the building as a viable alternative and fans wanted to see him carry the ball more in the second half of the season. Canada could have pointed out the noise and Warren’s performance to Harris and told him to stop dancing, or Harris could have just gotten healthy. Either way, he was a different back down the stretch and benefited from a two-back system that kept him fresh.

“I just look at the production that Kenny Pickett had from the beginning of the season to the end, you got to tip your hat to Matt Canada,” Taylor concluded. “Look at the running game and how they changed up the running game schematically, you gotta tip your hat to Matt Canada.  Find a way to give GP that ball, give that Georgia Bulldog that ball. As of now, you know you have a franchise quarterback.”

George Pickens is a number one receiver in the NFL and that fact is acknowledged by virtually all NFL observers. Canada and the offensive coaching staff appear to at least be resistant if not defiant of his ascension to the role. Pickens was targeted more during the first half of the season than the second half 43-41 and after his Atlanta outrage at being nothing more than a decoy, Canada elected to play Gunner Olszewski and Miles Boykin over the rookie on nearly 25 percent of the offensive snaps down the stretch.

Taylor listed the reasons that the decision was made and what the Steelers were thinking by retaining Canada. It is at best questionable that the reasons are valid, and if Pittsburgh has made the wrong decision on offense, they will continue to pay the price schematically. The Steelers' backup plan appears to be the talent will overcome the coaching. In other words, business as usual in Pittsburgh.