Steelers quarterbacks embrace ‘new concepts’ in Matt Canada’s offense
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If anyone knows — or thought he knew — the ins and outs of Matt Canada’s offense, it’s Mason Rudolph.
Rudolph, the No. 3 quarterback on the Pittsburgh Steelers depth chart, has known the offensive coordinator since 2020 when Canada spent one season as quarterbacks coach. Canada was promoted the following year and, despite the team’s difficulty in gaining yardage and producing points, is back for his third season in charge of the Steelers’ offense.
When Rudolph decided to re-sign with the Steelers for a sixth season in the days prior to organized team activities, he was given a playbook that looked different than the one he had studied in Canada’s first two seasons.
“There are plenty of new concepts, I can tell you that, that I’ve had to learn,” Rudolph said. “It’s not the same mode of operation.”
That’s probably a good thing because the Steelers ranked No. 23 in the NFL in total yards last season, No. 26 in points and No. 27 in yards per play. Steelers quarterbacks, with rookie Kenny Pickett starting 12 games and Mitch Trubisky five, threw the fewest touchdown passes in the NFL.
That showing necessitated some changes, and Rudolph can attest it happened during an offseason in which the Steelers addressed the offensive line in the draft and free agency and added veteran wide receiver Allen Robinson in a trade.
“I’m not going to get too in-depth about it, but there is new stuff,” Rudolph said. “Anytime you have a rookie quarterback or a young offense … we’ve bolstered the offensive line, and you can expect everyone to take a leap together.
“I’m not going to say we’re revolutionizing our offense and everything is changing, but there are some new things that can make us a lot better.”
For cohesion purposes, it helps the Steelers that they return all three quarterbacks from last season’s roster when Rudolph was the lone holdover from the Ben Roethlisberger era. The Steelers signed Trubisky to a two-year contract extension and then added Rudolph on a one-year deal.
The roles are defined clearly in OTAs and heading into training camp. Pickett is the starter, Trubisky is the top backup and Rudolph is the emergency No. 3 quarterback.
Trubisky and Rudolph are accepting of their roles in the system.
“I just want to help Kenny in any way I can,” Trubisky said. “We have a really great quarterback room, and we love having Mason back, too. We’re going to have a lot of fun, but we’re going to get to work. Anything I can be for Kenny — a sounding board, an extra coach on the field, extra eyes — I’m going to be there for him, and he knows that.
“I think that’s also why they wanted to have me back to be in that role and help in any way I can.”
As is natural at the position when the offense struggles, Trubisky lost his job at halftime of the fourth game of the season. At the time of his benching, the offense had scored four touchdowns in 15 quarters.
Although Pickett never threw more than one touchdown pass in any of his 12 starts, he did lead late drives that produced wins against the Las Vegas Raiders and at the Baltimore Ravens that kept the Steelers in the playoff race.
The Steelers went 7-2 after their bye week. Pickett started six of those games, and Trubisky led the Steelers to a 24-16 win at Carolina while the rookie passer was out with a concussion.
“I think you saw last year the potential of our offense,” center Mason Cole said. “When we’re playing well, I think our offense can be super efficient. When we were efficient on first down, we were efficient on the whole drive. We just have to be better in the red zone, and that goes without saying anytime you’re not getting points.”
The Steelers averaged 18.1 points in 2022, a decrease from 20.2 in Roethlisberger’s final season. That led to speculation that Canada might receive a pink slip. Instead, he was given a chance to oversee Pickett’s development for another season.
As a result, the playbook has undergone some changes.
“It’s going to continue to evolve,” Trubisky said. “We’re adding things, we’re tweaking things. We’re keeping a lot of things from last year, but also adding some new things that we think are going to help. It’s growing.
“It takes those reps. It takes that studying. Everybody getting on the same page and everybody buying in. It helps when you’re staying in the same system to allow yourself to take more steps from last year. We’re ahead of the curve from last year, and we have to stay on that pace.”
Pickett could attest to that after the first day of OTAs when he offered some perspective to the media on the offense’s capabilities.
“I went back and watched our first OTA last year. It’s a different team, honestly, not just player-wise but in terms of plays and how much we have (installed) already,” Pickett said. “Credit to the coaching staff for being here working hard and guys showing up when they don’t have to be and being here and knowing what they have to do. To be able to put six installs in, or five installs … where we were only really at one or two at this time last year.”