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A16 SPORTS
Wednesday 22 november 2023

The Steelers kept waiting for Matt Canada’s offense to take off.

And now he’s gone

By WILL GRAVES enough for us to proceed,” — an offensive coordinator
AP Sports Writer Tomlin said. in Tampa Bay and with the
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mike Pittsburgh is 28th in points New York Giants earlier in
Tomlin kept waiting for the and yards, and Pickett’s his career — serving as the
offense Matt Canada put development has stalled play-caller.
together to show signs of in a season in which Tom- Tomlin stressed he would
life. lin expected the 2022 first- not be “grading on a
Signs of progress. Signs of round pick to “kill it.” curve” and declined to
the kind of dynamic play Pickett threw for just 106 think much beyond what
required to get where the yards in Sunday’s 13-10 loss awaits the Steelers on Sun-
franchise so desperately to Cleveland, including day at Cincinnati.
wants to go. three straight incomple- “We’re getting ready to
The signs never came. Not tions on the Steelers’ pen- play a football game and
often enough or consistent ultimate possession with win this week, that is the
enough anyway. the score tied. Pittsburgh only agenda here,” Tom-
Not in 2021, when Canada Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada stands punted and Cleveland lin said. “(It’s) not big pic-
and Ben Roethlisberger next to quarterback Kenny Pickett (8) during the first half of an rookie quarterback Dorian ture and 2024 and all of
reached a frosty detente NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans, Thursday, Nov. Thompson-Robinson guid- that. This organization is not
before squeaking into the 2, 2023, in Pittsburgh. ed the game-winning drive. wired like that.”
playoffs. Not in 2022, when Associated Press While Tomlin said in the Maybe, but the Steelers
Mitch Trubisky and Kenny defense. es in 1941. aftermath on Sunday he also aren’t wired to take
Pickett carried a game By Tuesday morning, Tom- Tomlin felt as if he ran out of wouldn’t “second guess” such drastic action during
plan designed exclusively lin had seen enough, fir- options with the Steelers (6- any of the decision-mak- the season either.
to minimize risk. ing Canada in a nearly 4) ranking near the bottom ing, less than 48 hours later This, however, felt differ-
And certainly not this year, unprecedented in-season of the league in every sta- he jettisoned Canada and ent. Pittsburgh hasn’t won
when the weeks passed move for one of the most tistical offensive category opted to split his duties a playoff game since 2016
and the progress Tomlin stable clubs in the NFL. ahead of a trip to Cincin- between running backs and the offense has been
kept expecting to see nev- Pittsburgh hadn’t made nati (5-5) on Sunday. coach Eddie Faulkner and stuck in some sort of sta-
er materialized amid a flur- an in-season coaching “This is a result-oriented quarterbacks coach Mike sis for years. The Steelers
ry of three-and-outs, field change at the coordinator business and to be short, Sullivan. haven’t been in the top
goals and narrow escapes level or higher since going the improvements were not Faulkner will serve as the half of the league in yards
largely orchestrated by the through three head coach- rapid enough or consistent coordinator, with Sullivan or points since 2018. q

Transgender women have been barred from playing in

international women’s cricket

DUBAI, United Arab Emir- the international women’s our priority was to protect
ates (AP) — Transgender game,” the ICC said. the integrity of the interna-
women will not be allowed It added that the regula- tional women’s game and
to compete in interna- tions would apply “irre- the safety of players.”
tional women’s cricket, spective of any surgical or The ICC said the rules
the sport’s governing body gender reassignment treat- would be revisited within
said Tuesday. ment” players may have two years to “align with
The International Cricket undertaken. the sport’s evolving land-
Council said the “new gen- “The changes to the gen- scape.”
der eligibility regulation,” der eligibility regulations Decisions to allow trans-
which was approved by resulted from an extensive gender women play at do-
board members, had been consultation process and mestic level will be made
imposed to protect the in- are founded in science, by individual member
tegrity of women’s cricket aligning with the core prin- boards, the body said.
and was also made on ciples developed during The ICC also announced
safety grounds. the review,” ICC chief ex- equal pay for female
“Male-to-female partici- ecutive Geoff Allardice match officials regardless Cricket balls and a bat is seen on the ground before the start of
pants who have under- said. of whether they were offi- ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup match between New Zealand and
gone male puberty will not “Inclusivity is incredibly im- ciating men’s or women’s South Africa in Pune, India, Wednesday, Nov.1, 2023.
be eligible to compete in portant to us as a sport, but games.q Associated Press