Having missed the Week Five matchup against the Baltimore Ravens and a majority of the Week Four road trip to Houston due to a knee injury suffered just eight plays into the matchup with the Houston Texans, third-year offensive tackle Dan Moore Jr. is eyeing a return in Week Seven on the road against the Los Angeles Rams.
After dealing with an MCL sprain over the last three weeks, Moore returned to practice Monday in a limited capacity, moving one step closer to returning to the field for the Steelers’ offense.
Though he’s missed one full game and a majority of another while dealing with the injury, Moore isn’t all that worried about taking a step back from a physical standpoint. Instead, he’s focused on getting his feet back underneath him moving forward and finding that groove he was in earlier in the season.
Speaking with reporters Monday from inside the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on the South Side, Moore stated that there’s a little bit of a mental aspect of getting his feet wet again, but he’s happy it wasn’t a long-term injury that shouldn’t affect him much moving forward.
“I guess a little bit of that mental [aspect], kind of getting your feet wet again, getting your groove back,” Moore said to reporters regarding his return, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “Luckily, thankfully it wasn’t a long-term injury so, I feel like I didn’t really take any steps back in that aspect.”
Having the Week Six bye week certainly helped Moore avoid taking that significant step back from a physical and mental standpoint. In total, Moore missed just 117 total snaps in the loss to the Texans and then the win over the Ravens as rookie left tackle Broderick Jones filled in rather admirably.
Though the 117 snaps might seem like a lot, in the grand scheme of things it isn’t, especially for an experienced piece like Moore who has played nearly 2,500 snaps in his career to date.
With his return to practice, it raises the question of what the Steelers are going to do at the left tackle position, especially after Jones played quite well in the win over the Ravens, allowing just one pressure while having an impact in the run game.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin doesn’t like to take starting jobs away from players due to injury, but the Moore/Jones situation is an interesting one. The Steelers very clearly moved up for Jones in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft for a reason, and Moore has been the worst left tackle in football this season, according to Pro Football Focus.
Moore has allowed 14 total pressures and a sack on the season and currently holds a 29.3 overall grade offensively, including a 19.9 pass blocking grade and a 42.2 run blocking grade. In his career, Moore has allowed 66 total pressures and 15 sacks.
What groove Moore is trying to get back into is anyone’s guess, because he wasn’t exactly in a good grove offensively for the Steelers, though he did play well in Week Three against the Las Vegas Raiders. It’s good that the injury wasn’t long-term for Moore and that he’ll be able to return and contribute to the Steelers’ offensive line, but what capacity remains to be seen.
We’ll see what the week of work leads to for Moore and the Steelers in terms of his role moving forward.
