Matt Canada's Offense is Great.

[USX]

... for 3rd and 4th graders.

Back in 2017/18 I was nominated to coach my son's youth football team (I had played a few years of Div. III so I defaulted as the most qualified sucker). I looked at the group we had and quickly realized there wasn't a single 'big kid' among them - we had no kind of offensive line. What we did have was 2 really fast kids, 1 B+/A- athlete who was smart to play QB and 1 kid that was a pretty good up-the middle runner. I started looking around for an offense that would work and stumbled onto some of Canada's Pitt stuff (I didn't follow Pitt but some LSU folks had a good breakdown while their hopes were still high).

It was perfect, we could use Jet Motion to get our fast kids in space quickly and deception to confuse 3rd and 4th grade defenders. We didn't pass that much but the motions gave us just enough time by keeping defenders guessing. We tore up our league, scored a ton of points (and gave up a ton of points) but beat teams we had no business beating. There were no complex blocking schemes, really no blocking at all other than trying to get in front of the DEs and OLBs. And, with the right type/amount of practice, 3rd and 4th graders could run it out of a no-huddle.

The thing is, it's almost entirely based on deception and getting defenders to freeze or take a false step. Easy enough against questionably coached kids, but it gets harder as kids get older, more experienced and better coached.

I stuck with the same bunch of kids and, fast forward a few years as 7th-8th graders we've abandoned pretty much all of it. I could see where it might work OK in college if your line is undersized and you have the right athletes but the thing is there isn't much variability in the play designs and not that many plays overall.

I was excited when Canada came in because I was familiar with the offense and wanted to see how it would be adapted to the pro level. But to give you an idea of whether that happened, my now 8th grade son will watch Steeler games and say 'oh we ran that, it's <insert play call here>' way too often.

As a fan I'm still hopeful he'll have some sort of epiphany and come up with a bunch of new concepts. I just think these guys get so set in what they do that they don't incorporate much new stuff.

Thanks for listening.

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

That is a cool story, and kudos to you (in saying that seriously, not sarcastically to be a douche) but let us take your story and note translate it to the team.

You played D3 and realized when this was the right offense for you and have changed it when it stopped being the right offense. MC is (at least) a D1 OC. In two years, we know that he had a QB who played by his own rules in the interest of self preservation, a line that was incapable of blocking or keeping the QB upright, a rookie RB, rookies at TE, WR, and along the line. Oh ya, and likely a meddling coach who handcuffed his ability to install more aggression.

Fast forward to 2023. An improved line, those skill players are no longer rookies, and a QB who does not hold more sway than him. Isn't it likely that he, like you, will recognize that it is time to make changes to his offense based on the strengths and confidence in the players?

I don't know if MC can actually coach at this level. I am in no way saying he will be great if given the chance. I just don't think he has had that opportunity to show what he has yet.

[USX]

I think, moreover, hope you're right. I do think people don't give full weight to the amount of turnover/turmoil the offense has seen.

Many of the concepts of the O are good but there needs to be another level.

I think adding Washington is actually huge (pun intended) because athletic perimeter blocking is such a key for many of the concepts.

The other half is just play calling. You can have great designs but not be able to adjust. I think everyone noticed a lot of predictability last year. Hopefully that's a function of a new QB and young offense overall.

[blacknblue80s]

They call the NFL a copy-cat league. Matt Canada, please copy some concepts from other teams that fit our personnel and that have proven to be successful at the NFL level.