Mark Madden: Ben Roethlisberger must risk more for Steelers offense to reap rewards

Matt Canada is the Pittsburgh Steelers’ new offensive coordinator. He served as the quarterbacks coach last season. Canada was supposed to have influence on the offense then.

If he did, it was negligible.

But now Canada is in charge. Or maybe he’s quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s new bobo.

Canada’s offense features play-action, deception and creative formations. Power running, too. That’s good news for rookie back Najee Harris if the offensive line can handle it.

Last season’s offense featured quick releases and short passes. The Steelers lined up in the shotgun 82.5% of the time, third-most in the NFL. They ran play-action 6.6% of the time, least in the NFL.

It was incredibly easy to draw a bead on last season’s offense. No surprises.

If the Steelers are to challenge for the AFC North title and a playoff spot again, the offense must be 100% turned over to Canada.

Roethlisberger will line up under center more, but not necessarily a lot more. You can run play-action out of the shotgun — perhaps not quite as effectively, but Roethlisberger’s 39-year-old legs can’t handle dropping back on a consistent basis.

But that’s the only concession that can be made to Roethlisberger’s age, or his preference. He can’t have undue influence.

Canada’s offense puts Roethlisberger at more risk. The offensive line isn’t good. It’s easy to think four of its starters will be average or worse.

But that risk is necessary.

If the goal is for Roethlisberger to never get hurt, fine. Run the offense just like last year’s.

But if the goal is for the offense to get better, not worse, as the season progresses and to avoid a fourth straight late-season collapse, Roethlisberger must be put at more risk for the sake of executing Canada’s vision.

GM Kevin Colbert has said that Canada’s offense will be rolled out gradually.

That sounds like a disclaimer, i.e., expect more of the same from last season.

Or maybe the idea of “gradual” translates to using this season mostly to prepare for 2022 and for life without Roethlisberger. Maybe Roethlisberger has returned not for one last run at glory but to unwittingly quarterback a transition year as the Steelers ready for the future.

The Steelers don’t operate like that. But that may be what happens organically.

The offensive line simply isn’t good enough to win much now. The team has holes and lacks depth. There wasn’t enough cap space to add players of significance.

Any offense would be hampered by the quality of the offensive line, let alone while trying to install a new playbook. The disclaimer there is the blocking schemes were poor, and line coach Shaun Sarrett did his job inadequately. But Sarrett’s assistant, Adrian Klemm, was promoted upon Sarrett’s dismissal. So, Klemm was present last season, too.

Of the line’s starters, four could easily struggle: At 31, guard David DeCastro is beat up and washed up. Center B.J. Finney is a career backup who got released by Cincinnati. Tackle Zach Banner has started twice in his NFL career and got cut by Cleveland in 2018 after the Browns went 0-16. Chuks Okorafor is moving from right tackle to the more demanding left side.

Second-year guard Kevin Dotson may be the line’s most reliable performer. Rookie Kendrick Green hopefully will provide an upgrade at center before too long.

But Pro Football Focus ranks the Steelers O-line as the NFL’s fourth-worst. That bodes poorly.

Finding optimism going into this season seems manufactured. Perhaps 2022 will be better. Maybe that’s the idea.