Jan 20, 2023 5 min read

Mike Tomlin isn’t giving some the pound of flesh they wanted.

Certain segments of Steelers fandom wanted offensive coordinator Matt Canada fired at the conclusion of the 2022 season. But that’s not happening.

Canada has one more year remaining on his contract and he’ll get an opportunity to show he can bring the best out of rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett next season.

Don’t think that can happen?

Realize that in Josh Allen’s first two seasons in Buffalo, the Bills produced 16.8 then 19.6 points per game. In Allen’s third NFL season, the Bills saw their offensive production jump to 31.3 points per game.

Allen went from completing 46 percent of his 26 pass attempts in the Red Zone as a rookie to completing 63.1 percent of his 85 Red Zone attempts in Year 3.

Overall, Allen was a 52 percent passer in his rookie season. He became a more accurate passer by his third season.

Pickett, who completed 63 percent of his passes as a rookie, is a much more accurate quarterback than Allen was at the same point in his career, but he completed just 39 percent of his Red Zone passes this season. He’ll continue to get better.

• Allen’s offensive coordinator in his first three seasons was now-Giants head coach Brian Daboll, a leading candidate to win NFL Coach of the Year honors. Was Daboll any smarter in 2020, when the Bills were averaging 31.3 points per game than he was when they averaged 16.8 points per game in 2018, or was it a matter of the rookie quarterback getting better?

Much like the Steelers’ young offensive line got better this season as a group, young quarterbacks – or any player, for that matter – are allowed to get better.

• With the Steelers’ offseason now officially underway, they can get to the business of re-signing some of their pending free agents.

They started that process last week by bringing wide receiver Anthony Miller, one of the stars of training camp before he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury, to a one-year deal.

Efforts also should be made to bring back cornerback Cameron Sutton, safeties Terrell Edmunds and Damontae Kazee, tight end Zach Gentry and perhaps linebacker Robert Spillane, though not as a starter.

The Steelers also have restricted free agents in center J.C. Hassenauer, cornerback James Pierre and wide receiver Steven Sims who will need to be tendered offers.

There are some other pending free agents such as wide receiver Miles Boykin and defensive end Chris Wormley. But the price will have to be right.

The interesting signing could be what to do with defensive end Larry Ogunjobi. He was signed to a one-year, $10-million deal just before the start of training camp after he failed a physical on a three-year deal with the Bears that would have paid him $40.5 million in the spring.

Will Ogunjobi want a big deal again now that he played a full season? He’s a solid player, but didn’t produce the sack numbers he had the previous season in Cincinnati, when he had a career-high 7 sacks.

He could be difficult to re-sign.

• With the start of the new year, registrations are now open for youth baseball leagues.

For the Founders League this year, players from the Washington, Trinity, McGuffey, Canon-McMillan, Avella, Fort Cherry, Chartiers-Houston and Burgettstown school districts are eligible for selection to the 14-year-old all-star team that receives the automatic bid to the Pony World Series in August.

Players from the Bentworth, Beth-Center, California, Charleroi and Ringgold school districts are eligible, provided they play in Washington Youth Baseball from their 12-year-old season on up.

Sunday’s games

Bengals (plus 5) at Bills: Yes, the Bengals jumped out to a lead in the meeting in Cincinnati before the tragic incident with safety Damar Hamlin stopped the game. But it looks like both offensive tackles will be out in this game for Cincinnati. That’s a serious blow. Joe Burrow had to play much more conservatively when left tackle Jonah Williams went out against the Ravens. That’s going to be a huge issue against the Bills. But the Bengals should keep this close. Take the Bengals to cover in a 27-24 loss

Cowboys (plus 3½) at 49ers: At some point, Brock Purdy is going to have to do something other than simply toss passes to wide open players. San Francisco’s playmakers make it easy on him. But Dallas can match what San Francisco has on the offensive side of the ball. Can the Cowboys match the 49ers defensively? Perhaps. Dak Prescott has had his issues with turnovers this season – his 15 interceptions led the NFL – but he’ll outplay Purdy. Take the Cowboys, 26-24

Last Week: 1-3 ATS; 3-1 straight up.

Overall: 45-43-5 ATS; 61-32 straight up.