Coming off a 17-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens that saw some improvement from the Pittsburgh Steelers from a protection standpoint, the Steelers’ offensive line moved up five spots in the latest positional rankings from Pro Football Focus Wednesday morning.
After entering the Week Five matchup sitting at No. 29 in the league in PFF’s offensive line rankings, the Steelers climbed five spots to No. 24 overall in Zoltan Buday’s rankings for PFF.
The Steelers passed the Los Angeles Rams, New York Jets, Chicago Bears, Tennessee Titans and New England Patriots in the rankings.
“Rookie Broderick Jones played well in place of Dan Moore Jr. against the Ravens and was the second-highest-graded rookie offensive tackle in Week 5,” Buday writes regarding the Steelers’ offensive line for PFF.com. “The Steelers’ offensive line played its best game of the season against Baltimore and ranked ninth in pass-blocking efficiency in Week 5. The unit allowed just eight pressures on 37 dropbacks against the Ravens.”
Making his first career start in place of the veteran Moore, Jones played well, allowing just one pressure in 38 pass-blocking reps.
Jones graded out at a 74.8 overall on Sunday against the Ravens, and graded out at 67.0 in pass protection and 77.2 as a run blocker in 28 run-blocking snaps. After preparing all week as the starter instead of coming off the bench cold, Jones showed real improvements from his game against the Houston Texans in Week Four to a full game as a starter in Week Five.
It wasn’t just Jones who stood out, either.
Right guard Nate Herbig, making his second straight start in place of James Daniels, graded out at a 66.7 overall from PFF, with a 63.9 in pass protection and a 65.0 as a run blocker. Left guard Isaac Seumalo graded out at a 66.0 overall. He had a terrific 84.7 overall in pass protection but just a 56.9 as a run blocker.
Mason Cole struggled again, grading out at just a 46.3 overall with a 23.8 as a pass blocker and a 54.2 in the run game. Chukwuma Okorafor registered a 52.6 overall grade with a 48.7 in pass protection and a 52.8 in the run game.
In total, the Steelers allowed just 12 pressures on the day, with four of them coming from running back Jaylen Warren. Okorafor, Jones and Seuamlo allowed just one pressure each while Cole allowed two pressures and Herbig allowed three.
When it comes to the best of the bunch for the Steelers, at least from PFF’s view, it’s Seumalo through the first five weeks.
“Following a slow start to his Pittsburgh career, Seumalo has played really well recently. Over the past three weeks, he has not allowed a single sack or quarterback hit and leads all guards with an 89.8 pass-blocking grade,” Buday writes for PFF.
Seumalo has adjusted to offensive line coach Pat Meyer’s technique and is thriving in pass protection, even playing between Cole — who is really struggling this season — and Moore Jr. for the first three-plus games, and then holding his own next to a rookie left tackle seeing his first extended action of his career the last two weeks.
If Seumalo can continue to play at a high level, the rest of the offensive line should be able to settle in around him. Should that happen, the Steelers’ offense could improve in the second half of the season and continue to rise up the board from PFF at the position.
