While the Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t revealing who will start at left tackle Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams, veteran Dan Moore Jr. or rookie Broderick Jones, one reporter believes he knows who it is going to be. Appearing on 93.7 The Fan’s Cook and Joe Show Tuesday, The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly strongly believes Moore will get the nod.
“He took all the reps on first team on Monday,” Kaboly told the show of Moore. “I mean, he looked good, he felt good. It didn’t look like any limitations whatsoever. I’m pretty sure that he’s gonna be back in there barring injury.”
Coming off their bye, the Steelers used their Monday “bonus” day to squeeze in an extra practice. Moore returned for the first time since spraining the MCL in his right knee in the team’s Week Four loss to the Houston Texans and told reporters he felt good throughout practice. Kaboly’s assessment about Moore taking “all” the first-team reps is a little questionable with Moore acknowledging he was limited to some degree during practice but it sounds like Moore worked with the starters for all the reps he received.
If that’s true, then it’s hard to see Jones being the starter this weekend. If he was, the team would be giving him all the first-team reps to prepare a rookie like him, who would be making just his second career start, instead of severely limiting his practice reps with the 1s. It seems that the only way Moore doesn’t start is if he tweaks his knee or just doesn’t feel right coming into the game. Right now, there’s no indication of that being the case.
On a personal level, Kaboly believes sticking with Moore is the right decision.
“Dan Moore is still, in my opinion, the better football player as we speak right now,” he said.
Kaboly was pressed for why he thinks Moore is the better option over Jones, who played well in the team’s Week Five win over the Baltimore Ravens. But he did not provide much of an answer, repeating that Moore is the better player who has outplayed Jones while noting Jones’ limited body of work from the past two games (Moore, though, has essentially only played three games so his sample size isn’t dramatically larger). Moore has 187 offensive snaps this year compared to Jones’ 121.
If there is a better case to be made to defend Moore, there’s no question he faced three tough matchups to begin the year. San Francisco’s Nick Bosa in Week One, Cleveland’s Myles Garrett in Week Two, and he saw more of Las Vegas’ Maxx Crosby in Week Three than anticipated. Had Jones played in those games, he likely would’ve taken his lumps, too. And according to our charting, Moore has still only allowed one sack this season, though it’s not an end-all figure.
Should Moore continue to receive the bulk or all of the first-team reps during today’s practice, he’ll be the guy for this weekend. It’ll send Jones back to the bench in a presumed swing role with the chance of seeing him as a sixth offensive lineman in goal-line/short-yardage packages.
