After the Pittsburgh Steelers got blown out at home by the San Francisco 49ers last Sunday, the public view of the team as well as individual players soured rather quickly. Many went from thinking that Kenny Pickett was potentially this year’s breakout candidate at quarterback to questioning whether he can be the guy at the helm going forward. The same was the case for the offensive line as the unit tumbled from 12th in the league in Pro Football Focus‘ rankings all the way down to 26th.
The play of various members along the offensive line was anything but great. LT Dan Moore Jr. graded out as the worst offensive tackle in the league Week One by PFF while C Mason Cole and LG Isaac Seumalo also took their lumps as Pickett got sacked five times and the running game was non-existent. However, OC Matt Canada defended his offensive line on Thursday, telling the media that he thought the unit played valiantly given the circumstances.
“Offensive line I think, based on what the situation was, did a great job,” Canada said via video from Pittsburgh Sports with Amanda G’s YouTube channel. “I think we dropped back about 50 times or something ridiculous like that. That’s unfair to them. They did a great job. The protection was good for the most part, and obviously we can’t put them in that position. So, not enough opportunities. When we ran the ball, we could’ve been a little better, but we didn’t do it enough to even say that. So, I thought they played well, they protected very well and we just gotta give ’em a better chance to be more balanced.”
Canada isn’t the only member of the staff who commended the play of the offensive line after last Sunday’s performance. Head coach Mike Tomlin mentioned in his Tuesday press conference that he thought the line did an awesome job up until the very end of the game where Pickett was sacked three times on the final drive. Giving up two sacks prior to a 49ers team that had just gotten back DE Nick Bosa is no small feat. Bosa didn’t have a sack in the game as DE Drake Jackson stole the show with three sacks, having a breakout game against Moore who took his lumps in pass protection.
This isn’t to say that we should completely refrain from giving the offensive line some criticism, but that the situation didn’t put those players in a position to be notably successful. Pittsburgh hardly ran the ball to start the game and couldn’t go back to it after getting down big in the first half. Being down three scores with talented 49ers defensive linemen pinning their ears back every play is going to cause problems after awhile, even for the best pass protection units in football.
To prevent Pittsburgh’s offensive line from being put into the same position this coming week against a talented Browns’ pass rush, the Steelers need to do a better job leaning on the run game early while putting Pickett in position to convert third-and-manageable third downs. That way, they can better control the pace of the game, avoid getting down early, and play more to their strengths rather than becoming so one-dimensional like against San Francisco.
