As if we needed more evidence that Matt Canada struggled with play-calling on Sunday (and let’s be honest, almost every game since he’s been the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator), The Athletic’s Tad Nguyen did a great breakdown into why he has Canada making some of the worst coaching decisions of the week.
Nguyen highlights Canada frequently calling shallow cross, a concept that puts the onus on the middle linebacker to cover a receiver or tight end coming across the formation on a drag route, with another option usually sitting over the middle of the field. The idea is to make the linebacker choose whether to run with the guy coming across or cover the player in the middle of the field, and it can be a good zone-beater.