The Pittsburgh Steelers offense has been one of the big talking points around the NFL over the past couple of weeks following strong performances in back-to-back preseason games. The starters have scored three touchdowns on three drives, and QB Kenny Pickett and his skill position players have all shown up.
For former Steelers RB Merril Hoge, however, it still comes down to the trenches—and it always does. He said on The Zach Gelb Show that, like every other team, if they want to hoist the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the season, they’d better have their trenches in order.
“Getting that solidified, making that the strength of your team, is what has to happen. That’s just the way it is”, he told Gelb. “At the end of the year, the Super Bowl-winning team, after you watch tape of that Super Bowl game, it isn’t the perimeter players that you saw in the game who got the MVP or made the great play that stands out. It’s how they played in the trenches. That is always the difference in the Super Bowls, how the offensive line played, how the defensive line played. I’ve never seen it come out any different”.
That might be just a tad hyperbolic, but one can easily point to the Kansas City Chiefs’ loss in the Super Bowl at the end of the 2020 season as a case in point. QB Patrick Mahomes spent much of that game running for his life. They invested substantially in the offensive line the following offseason and came back out on top once again in 2022.
Pittsburgh has also invested more substantially in the offensive line over the past few years than they have in about a decade or so. In terms of credible remaining pieces, they used a fourth-round draft pick on LT Dan Moore Jr. in 2021. Last year’s free agency period brought them C Mason Cole and RG James Daniels. And they found LG Isaac Seumalo as a veteran option this offseason.
That’s not even mentioning 14th-overall draft pick Broderick Jones, who is going to be the eventual starter at left tackle sooner or later. It does appear that Jones will begin the season there, but Jones is the future at some point down the line.
They did grow last season, but much is expected in the way of progress in 2023—on both sides of the ball. That includes the retention of Larry Ogunjobi and the drafting of Keeanu Benton in the second round. The signings of Armon Watts and Breiden Fehoko could go under the radar as value additions. The continued development of second-year DeMarvin Leal is also not to be overlooked.
If the Steelers can have top-10 units on both sides of the ball, that will take care of a lot of the work for them. Not that you can really afford to have any glaring weaknesses, but I don’t believe the Steelers have any. It’s just that what you do in the trenches is the foundation upon which everything else is built. From the middle and out. That’s how you build a roster, in Hoge’s eyes.
