PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – New Steelers offensive coordinator Eddie Faulkner is excited about the opportunity, just not so thrilled about how it came about.
“Matt Canada is a friend of mine,” Faulkner said on Thursday. “We are friends. I care about his well-being. I care about his family. Our wives are friends. Our kids are friends. We spend a lot of time together. Love the dude. I couldn’t say enough good about Matt Canada.”
He said that makes it bittersweet. You can imagine how many hours they worked together. The successes and the frustrations, when you become a coach at any level it becomes family. Maybe at time stressed relationships, but still pulling towards the same goal and Faulkner believes he let his friend down.
“When you sit back and all that goes on and all that is being said about him and the offense,” Faulkner said. “We, and I’m speaking for the offensive staff, we all felt that. We are all part of that. Nobody is absolving themselves from anything that has happened in that regard. We feel like we let him down.”
“I got to say that because that’s what a real one would do. That’s a friend of mine and that’s not going to change because we fell on some rough times. ”
His opportunity
Faulkner now takes over the day-to-day responsibilities as offensive coordinator. He organizes and runs the meetings, everything that a coordinator would do, Faulkner will do. Except for relaying the plays to Kenny Pickett, that will go to quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan. Both will be on the field on game days.
“I think one thing Coach said in his press conference about why I was put in this position is my communication ability with people,” Faulkner said. “That’s always been something that’s come natural to me, something I enjoy doing. I think anyone that played with me in the past would tell you that Coach Faulk is a good dude, a good dude to play for.”
He said he really hasn’t had the chance to let it sink in. The 46-year-old called it a blessing. He knows what this means for his career.
“At the same time, it’s not clouding what the task at hand is,” Faulkner said. “That’s beating Cincinnati. Period.”
Picture perfect
There have been several national publications that have confused pictures of Eddie Faulkner with Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin. The new Steelers OC is well aware that has happened.
“I feel a little bit sorry for ya’ll because now you got light-skinned brothers as coordinators and you have to get those pictures right. My wife is going back and forth with TA’s wife talking about I guess your husband is my husband today.”
“You all get that right so we can stop having those conversations.”