Good morning, everybody. Today is Thursday, July 6th. Thank you for making me a part of your morning in this episode of first thoughts looking at the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And if you're a Steelers fan hearing a three to four minute episode this morning about Matt Canada,

might make your skin crawl a little bit considering how people in Pittsburgh speak about the offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

But there's an interesting divide that we have got a first row seat to the last couple weeks in the media,

as OTAs have come up and Canada has been doing the media rounds.

And so there was a radio show in Pittsburgh that Matt Canada went on, and he was asked to

describe what the plans were for the offense in 2023. And there was a weird response that caught

people off guard where Matt Canada, the offensive coordinator, said, it's not like I'm coming in here and

deciding what the offensive plan is. And the host was thrown off. He goes, what do you mean?

You're the offensive coordinator. And it went into this bit of a ramble from Canada where he was

saying that the plan for what the offense is going to be comes from an organizational plan.

He said he's not coming in and deciding what it is.

There's a plan from the owner, Art Rooney, and the coach, Mike Tomlin.

And so if we think back two seasons ago to when Matt Canada was hired, everything that he said

coming into the organization was about creativity

and this modern offensive plan. And he was really praised for it. A lot of people thought highly

of the switch from Fickner to Matt Canada at offensive coordinator. And then we haven't seen any of

that translate on the field.

Now, when you hear Canada go on the radio and talk about how it really isn't him by the sounds of it that's getting to dictate this offense,

and it's a really weird comment for him to have, especially when it's not an offensive dominated coach like a McVeigh or a Shanahan who has full control of the offense.

And so now you take a step back and you think about the Pittsburgh Steelers and what's going on.

Last year, they were criticized intently because of the lack of creativity, the constant jet sweeps, the conservative play

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