Eric Ebron's Matt Canada Rant Puts a Spotlight on Mike Tomlin's Biggest Late Career Failure

When the Pittsburgh Steelershired Mike McCarthy as head coach, their priorities became clear. After nearly a decade of a stale, stagnant offense, the unit needed major changes. While not everything falls on him, former head coach Mike Tomlin shoulders much of the blame. After all, he hired the coaches who ran this unit. When a former player bashed former offensive coordinator Matt Canada, it spoke volumes about Tomlin's coaching hires.

Eric Ebron joined Cam Heyward's podcast, Not Just Football, and explained his frustration with Canada, citing a training camp example from the red zone "seven shots" drill.

"Sometimes the [offensive coordinators] be on bull(expletive)," Ebron said. "You know who our [offensive coordinator] was … Matt Canada … Why the (expletive) are we trying to run the ball? We're trying to score."

This quote not only speaks volumes about the outlook of Canada's offense, but it also highlights the reality of Tomlin's late career hires. No coach is ever perfect in his position. Plenty of coaches have failed with better offensive talent than the Steelers had. However, one recurring theme late in the Tomlin tenure was the sub-par hires he made.

Frustration With Canada Reflects Steelers' Late Tomlin-Era Failures

Ebron isn't the only former player to openly criticize Canada. Former cornerback Patrick Peterson also weighed in on Canada's "elementary" offense.

"Not to point the finger at the playcaller, but I don't know what type of plays were running out there on offense when we had Matt Canada with us," Peterson said. "I just feel like we were super stagnant. We did nothing to exploit the defense. I just feel like we were very basic and elementary."

Eventually, Tomlin fired Canada halfway through Peterson's lone season with the Steelers.

However, these comments point directly at Tomlin's coordinator hires. Canada, Arthur Smith, and Randy Fichtner all oversaw sub-par offenses. Though Smith's units improved on Fichtner's and Canada's, they still left much to be desired. Beyond these hires, Tomlin's decision to part with Todd Haley proved to be one of his bigger mistakes.

The problem doesn't stop at offensive coordinator, though. A similar argument applies to the defensive coordinator position.

Tomlin's Defense Took a Step Back With His Last Hire

Keith Butler wasn't perfect, but he oversaw several solid defenses from 2015 to 2021, blending Dick LeBeau's concepts with Tomlin's preference for more Tampa-2-style looks. In 2019 and 2020, Butler assembled the team's best defense in nearly a decade. After Butler retired in 2022, Tomlin promoted Teryl Austin, a decision that proved to be a mistake.

Over 2024-25, the defense underwhelmed despite its talent. Stars like T.J. Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick, and Jalen Ramsey looked far less effective in Austin's scheme over those years. His blitzes were stale and his concepts were predictable. The problems compounded each year, yet Tomlin refused to make the necessary changes.

The Tomlin-Austin defenses simply proved to just be good enough. They never reached the levels of historical expectations Tomlin had for them.

There's no doubt Tomlin is Canton-bound. But if anything reveals the shortcomings of his late career, it's the hires he made at key positions. That shouldn't erase an otherwise incredible resume, but it does leave fans wondering "what if" he'd hired better.