The Pittsburgh Steelers fell again in the PFF Offensive Line rankings ahead of Week Five, dropping one spot from No. 28 to No. 29.
The Steelers had their lowest pass-blocking efficiency of the season in their 30-6 loss against the Houston Texans, leading to the drop. The Steelers remain ahead of just the Seattle Seahawks, Carolina Panthers and New York Giants, who are in last after allowing 11 sacks in a Monday Night Football loss.
Isaac Seumalo did get praise from PFF, and his 80.4 overall grade over the past two weeks ranks third among all guards. After a bit of a slow start to the regular, Seumalo has been as advertised over the last few games. But Pittsburgh’s offensive line in totality hasn’t been good, and it’s contributing to the team’s offensive struggles in a big way.
OT Broderick Jones will start this week at LT as Dan Moore Jr. recovers from a knee injury that he suffered in the loss against Houston. Jones replaced him early in that game and had an up-and-down performance, and there’s definitely room for improvement out of Pittsburgh’s 2023 first-round pick.
James Daniels could also return this week, which would give the offensive line a boost after he missed Week Four with a groin injury. But the line has been an issue all season, and it’s one of many problems that the Steelers need to fix.
They finally had some legitimate success running the ball on Sunday, but then they abandoned the run during key moments, something that clearly bothered center Mason Cole. It shows a lack of trust in the offensive line, and QB Kenny Pickett hasn’t helped his line out at times by bailing from clean pockets and getting himself sacked. So there’s understandable frustration out of those guys, who feel as if they can be doing more, particularly in the run game.
We’ll see if the line can improve against the Ravens in Week Five. But the group’s performances to this point don’t give a lot of hope, and maybe, like last season, it’ll take the bye week to figure things out. The offensive line looked like a different unit after the Steelers’ bye last season, so we’ll see if that’s the case again after Week Six this year.
