Kelvin Beachum didn’t have a perfect first start at left tackle Sunday in the Pittsburgh Steelers win over the New York Jets as he racked up two holding calls and one false start in the game. Beachum, however, wasn’t sorry for the final holding call that took place early in the fourth quarter on second down at the Jets four yard-line.
“Even on the one play I got a holding call down there, I finished that guy,” Beachum said after the game. “I wanted to put his face in the dirt, I wanted to spear him, I wanted to make sure that he felt the Steelers offensive line. If I got a holding penalty, so be it. I don’t think it was holding, but like I said, it’s football.”
As you can see in the animated gif of the play below, Beachum did indeed impose his will on Jets outside linebacker Garrett McIntyre and I will leave it up to you to decide if it was a questionable call against him.
With newly acquired tackle Levi Brown now looking like he might be out for the season after suffering a triceps injury during pregame warmups, Beachum appears certain to start next Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. Should that indeed be the case, he will see quite a bit of Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs, who already has seven sacks so far this season.
How the Steelers 2012 seventh-round draft pick does against Suggs will go along way in determining the outcome of the game and while he might have been fine with one of his penalties Sunday against the Jets, the offense can’t afford for him to continue to have three infractions during a game. He will have to make Suggs feel the Steelers offensive line without drawing a flag in the process.
