Former Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Eric Ebron was befuddled by a rather peculiar decision in practice by offensive coordinator Matt Canada, adding to a pile of issues that arose during his tenure with the team.
During an appearance on Cam Heyward’s “Not Just Football” podcast, Ebron recalled a time in Canada’s second season with the Steelers where the offense looked to run the ball during their seven shots drill, which seemingly elicited quite the reaction.
“Sometimes the OC was on some bulls***,” Ebron said. “You know who our OC was? Matt Canada. This was our second year with him. He used to call the most… I’m like, ‘Dude, this is seven shots. Why the f*** are we trying to run the ball? We’re trying to score.”
Perhaps the greatest evidence for the shortcomings during Canada’s stint as offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh is the sharp decline in Ebron’s numbers over his two campaigns with the team.
In 2020, Ebron finished with 558 yards and five touchdowns on 56 catches as a key component of the passing game under Randy Fichtner. During the 2021 season, however, he logged just 84 yards and a score across 12 receptions.
The Steelers’ pick of Pat Freiermuth in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft was certainly to blame as his snap count went from 766 to 246 on offense, and Ebron raised his own issues with that selection on the podcast by saying that the organization should’ve chose to protect Ben Roethlisberger instead of taking another tight end.
Regardless, those stats do help paint a picture of just how inefficient and downright sluggish Pittsburgh’s offenses were when Canada was calling the shots.
The Steelers finished within the bottom 10 for yards per game in 2021 with 315.4 and were No. 12 in points per contest at 20.2.
With Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky at quarterback in 2022, Canada’s unit mustered the 10th-fewest yards per game at 322.6 and were tied for the sixth-fewest points per game with 18.1.
Canada was fired leading into Week 12 of the 2023 season, meaning the onus for Pittsburgh’s offensive struggles weren’t 100 percent his fault from a statistical perspective, though the team had the eighth-fewest yards per game (304.3) while being tied for the fifth-fewest points per contest (17.9).
Simply put, Canada’s tenure with the Steelers was a downright disappointment, and the fact that he hasn’t earned another NFL coaching job in any capacity since leaving the organization speaks volumes.
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