Nobody within the walls of the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex wants to point the finger at each other.

That statement can be affirmed by Najee Harris' words from Wednesday, as he mentioned players examining themselves in the proverbial mirror concerning the lack of execution of Matt Canada's play calls.

There is only so much ownership that the players can take, however. On a greater level is the inability for Canada to put his players in the correct positions and situations to properly execute a play call that is fit for the NFL field. Ownership of the Steelers' failures on offense is unsurprisingly being taken by both players and coaches alike, and the issues plaguing the Steelers have been addressed ad nauseam by this point. 

There is a clear disconnect between what the coaches are planning for the players and the players' execution of those plans. The plans, in and of themselves can be fairly critiqued, which brings less blame of the failures onto the players.

"Obviously -- I don't think -- been doing this for a few years and at no point have I come out here and said anything about execution," Canada said Thursday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. "We have to get production. It's a bottom-line business. Players are saying that and that's great but ultimately we have to score more points. We've lost two games. One scoring seven, one scoring six. That's not good enough. We all know that. We've just got to get better."

Production is a byproduct of the players' execution, and players executing well relies on the coordinator positioning them appropriately for success. In the Canada era, the Steelers have found themselves caught in a vicious cycle.

The Steelers have hardly experienced production or proper execution through four games in 2023. One of the worst offenses in football is about to go toe-to-toe with one of the game's best defenses Sunday at Acrisure Stadium, and this AFC North rivalry matchup with the Ravens is hardly an opportunity for a get-right game for this offense. 

The disconnects have been particularly bad in the early stages of games. The Steelers have been outscored 30-14 in the first quarter and 57-36 in the first half of games this season. 

When a run-first team has to continuously play catch-up, they have to adjust on the fly and dig themselves out of what they placed themselves into. Included in that is the adjustment to throwing more often than they would have to run, thus taking their identity away.

"We've got to start faster," Canada said. "We look at those things. Obviously last week we got going and had a couple of first downs and we were kind of moving in a decent fashion. Had a really unfortunate play to lose 8 yards and put (us at) a second-and-long and then we end up throwing an interception. We have to keep working on that. We're not doing a good enough job in that regard."

As long as his offense is built for that in the first place.

Controversy rose among those who watched the CBS broadcast of the Steelers-Texans game on Sunday when CBS commentator Spiro Dedes made the claim that Canada felt his offense was not built to come from behind in games.

"One thing Matt Canada told us when we sat with them at their hotel, they're not quite built to come back from big leads, and so the way they start games is so critical," Dedes said in the broadcast. "Young quarterback, with still so much newness within this offense."

Canada emphatically rebuked that piece of commentary at length Thursday by saying their conversation was taken out of context. He said it wasn't a fair assessment of the conversation, and he "firmly" believes the Steelers are built to come from behind in games.

"That is an unbelievable misinterpretation of the conversation," Canada said in part. "I'm going to take a real look, a nice time to explain what that was. Obviously you guys all know because you know how it works. Pregame we talk to those crews, talk about what's going to happen, try to give them information. The conversation was why we ran more runs and play-action against the Raiders versus the opening game. Why was that, as you look at a stat sheet, it didn't look that way.

"As you all know the start of that 49ers game didn't go the way we planned. Really didn't do anything until we had the 95-yard, two-minute drive, we're down 20-7. So you're down two scores, we come back, they score, we had a decent drive, we were moving a little bit and Diontae (Johnson) got hurt as you recall. Got down there and stalled, got a stop, came back again, and the conversation was at that point -- I think there was 3 minutes and 15 seconds ball parked when we got stopped. At that point in the third quarter, at that point we're down three scores with 3:13 to go in the third. Three scores. You're not going to stick to your running plan and the plan of running play-action when you're down three scores."

Then there is the critiquing of other situational calls, like the fourth-and-1 pass play in which Kenny Pickett injured his left knee. Canada gave a non-explanation for that call:

“It was just a play that we had at the time that obviously didn’t get the result that we wanted," Canada said.

Whether it has to come from behind or protect a lead, this 29th-ranked offense has not shown any sign of the arrow pointing upward any time soon. The offense is and will be the same offense for as long as Canada remains the coordinator. If he has not made the necessary and requisite changes that needed to be made over the offseason, then those changes surely won't come midseason either.

It then circles this back to the players and execution.

"Going out there and practicing hard and continuing to strive for perfection and strive for us to continue to get better," Allen Robinson said. "Every week we take some steps forward. You've got to just make sure that it equates to Sunday when we go out there and execute, play fast, and do our job to the best of our abilities. ... We've got to execute. Like I've said before, we've just got to make sure we're detailed and in our spots and doing everything we can do to the best of our ability."

The players are doing their part to take accountability, but that can only go so far before it starts to become lip service through the lens of remaining loyal to the coaching staff and the schemes in which they operate. That disconnect lives on both ends.

A disconnect that is difficult to identify.

"Honestly I don't know," Jaylen Warren told me before Thursday's practice. "Could be the physicality which is why we rocked pads this week, so I don't know the answer to that."

Further complicating matters for this offense is that Kenny Pickett is working back from a bone bruise in his left knee. The Steelers are preparing Mitch Trubisky to start in the event Pickett cannot play on Sunday, but Pickett reinforced Wednesday that he would be ready to play.

"We're managing them both, doing what we've got to do to get them ready to play," Canada said. "Nothing has changed with Kenny's preparation. He feels good about where he's at. We'll make sure Mitch is ready to go if that has to go that way."

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