The entire offense struggled against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, but OT Dan Moore Jr. particularly graded out poorly after an abysmal performance, according to the analytics. Pro Football Focus graded Moore out as the worst offensive tackle in the league on Sunday, finishing 75th out of 75 qualifiers with the Monday night game still to go with a 33.7 overall grade. PFF had Moore down for one sack allowed, two quarterback hits, and six hurries allowed on the day.
Going into Sunday’s game, many wondered how Moore would hold up against DE Nick Bosa after he and the 49ers agreed to terms on a new deal, ending his holdout and getting him back with the team in time to play against the Steelers. Going through the tape, you could see that Moore took his lumps against Bosa, but he also struggled against San Francisco’s other pass rushers. Were PFF’s analytics an accurate reflection of Moore’s play on Sunday? Let’s take a look.
The Film
Dan Moore Jr. was charged with only one sack allowed by PFF, but there were three occasions where his man got to the quarterback Sunday afternoon. One of those didn’t appear to be directly his fault though as this rep can be classified more as a coverage sack on QB Kenny Pickett. Watch as Moore picks up No. 95 Drake Jackson in pass protection, getting his hands on his shoulder pads and standing him up as Pickett drops back to pass. Pickett then flees the pocket as No. 91 Arik Armstead nearly takes him down, spinning to the outside. Moore then disengages from the block, thinking that the ball has been thrown as Jackson runs around the outside and takes Pickett down for the sack.
No. 94 Clelin Ferrell wasn’t credited with a sack on this play — Pickett managed to get the ball back to the line of scrimmage as he dove forward — but it represents another loss for Moore in pass protection. Ferrell gets inside Moore’s chest and walks him back into the pocket. Moore manages to dig his feet in and stall the rush, but by that time, Pickett is attempting to scramble up the middle. Ferrell gets off the block and trips up Pickett, nearly getting him for the sack as Pickett just gets back to the line of scrimmage.
This sack allowed by Moore came after he moved over to right tackle after Chukwuma Okorafor left the game with a possible concussion. Moore sees Jackson again, this time rushing off the other side of the line of scrimmage. Jackson quickly gets his hands on Moore’s chest and executes the push/pull, rushing inside as Armstead stunts to create a natural lane to the passer. Jackson gets around Moore, who is slow to move his feet and bears down on Pickett. He meets Armstead at the quarterback for the takedown.
It was not a good day for Moore from a pass-protection standpoint as he struggled to sync up his hands and his feet consistently. It’s been an ongoing trend since he got to Pittsburgh, and those issues were evident in this game even when he wasn’t facing Bosa. Watch this rep from Moore as he goes up against Ferrell, who wins the hand battle from the get-go, getting one am on Moore’s shoulder and the other on his hand as he rounds the corner into the pocket. Ripping his arm through at the last second, Ferrell hits Pickett as he throws. The ball is thrown behind No. 11 Allen Robinson II and into the hands of No. 54 Fred Warner, who luckily drops the ball.
There were moments throughout the game where Moore looked more comfortable in pass protection showing good use of independent hands and sticking the pass rusher with a long arm punch, like you see in the first clip below. He even did the same against Bosa on the touchdown pass to TE Pat Freiermuth, jolting him back with a strong initial punch. That gave Pickett enough time to locate his receiver coming out of his break for the score in the red zone.
For the most part, Moore represented himself well as a run blocker Sunday afternoon. He generated a push up front when Pittsburgh decided to run the ball against San Francisco and had a nice down block here on this run by Najee Harris as Moore clears out No. 98 Javon Hargrave, allowing Harris to cut off Moore’s backside.
Still, Moore showed his overall lack of movement in the open field and second in the running game on this rep, staying on the double team a tad too long with No. 73 Isaac Seumalo. He is a step late to get a body on Warner, who evades his block and tracks down Jaylen Warren on a run to the sideline, taking him down for a minimal gain.
Conclusion
Sunday was not a good day for Dan Moore Jr., who won the left tackle battle outright against rookie Broderick Jones in training camp but needs to play well to keep Jones from taking his job early in the season. Moore looked overwhelmed in pass protection, having moments of success where he displayed a strong punch and good use of independent hands but struggling at other times to handle San Francisco’s secondary rushers outside of Bosa. His anchor, hand placement, and synchronization of hands and feet were all off.
Pending the status of Okorafor and if he’s good to go next Monday, Moore could either be starting at left tackle or kick to right tackle with Jones filling in at the blindside like he did at the end of the 49ers game. Either way, Moore is going to need to deliver better results than this performance to keep a firm hold of the starting job. Should he struggle again against Cleveland, we should expect the drum beat to grow louder for Jones to overtake him at left tackle.
