The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2021 season is underway, and they are hoping for a better outcome in comparison to last season. After starting out 11-0, they finished the year 1-4 in the regular season, and then lost in the Wildcard Round to the Cleveland Browns, ignited by a 0-28 first quarter.
They have lost a large number of key players in the offseason, like Maurkice Pouncey, Bud Dupree, Alejandro Villanueva, David DeCastro, Mike Hilton, and Steven Nelson, but they’ve also made significant additions as the months have gone on, notably Trai Turner, Melvin Ingram, Joe Schobert, and Ahkello Witherspoon. They also added Najee Harris, Pat Freiermuth, Kendrick Green, and Dan Moore Jr., all of whom are starting.
There isn’t much left to do but to play the games at this point. Even if they play them poorly. They still have a lot to figure out, though, such as what Matt Canada’s offense is going to look like in any given week, or how the new-look secondary and offensive line is going to play.
These are the sorts of questions among many others that we have been exploring on a daily basis and will continue to do so. Football has become a year-round pastime and there is always a question to be asked. There is rarely a concrete answer, but this is your venue for exploring the topics we present through all their uncertainty.
Question: What would it take to get Kendrick Green benched?
Sometimes it’s difficult to decide which is the larger problem with the Steelers: The offensive line or the defensive line. Sometimes it’s not so difficult, and when that’s the case, the answer is always the offensive line, thanks to the play of those like Kendrick Green, the team’s rookie center, who has offered only rare glimpses of talent in 15 games.
Yesterday evening was yet another rough outing for the third-round pick out of Illinios, which featured him make a take following a strip sack that he had a big hand in allowing to happen in the first place. He left the game after that with an injury, and J.C. Hassenauer, fresh off the Reserve/Injured List, filled in the rest of the way.
It may be that Green is not even healthy enough to play next week. But now that they finally have another center available to them—not only Hassenauer but also B.J. Finney have been on the Reserve/Injured List—they at least have the option of playing somebody other than Green at the position.
As much as I would like to see Kendrick Green succeed, his play is clearly a detriment to anything the Steelers are trying to do on offense. He may very well be the worst-performing starter on the entire team right now. He’s simply not ready for the role he’s been given, if he ever will be. Do you want to see him take on Brandon Williams next week?
