3 Steelers who will benefit most from Matt Canada’s new offense
By Tommy Jaggi
QB Ben Roethlisberger
The end-of-the-year meltdown is all many fans seem to remember (probably because it was so disheartening). However, before the collapse of Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers offense over the final six games of the season and into the playoffs, this offense was actually quite impressive.
To begin the year, Roethlisberger’s offense averaged 31.2 points per game over the 5 five contests. Stretching that out even further, his team scored 29.8 points per game over the first 10 games of the season. It wasn’t until Week 11 that things really started to fall apart.
When Canada was more involved in the offense with pre-snap motion and play-action, Ben was quite impressive. Some even talked about him as a potential MVP candidate. Through the first 9 games of the season, he threw 22 touchdowns and just 4 interceptions – a remarkable ratio. However, when the offense became bland and Ben was under center all of the time, he finished the final 6 games throwing 11 touchdowns and 6 interceptions (15 TD and 10 INT if you count the playoffs).
Big Ben might not want to make such big offensive changes so late in his NFL career, but I’m sure he realizes that it is for the best. With Matt Canada’s effort to establish the run game and get receivers wide open with more play-action and pre-snap motion, it will certainly help out Ben Roethlisberger in 2021.