Pittsburgh Steelers rookie OT Broderick Jones got the second start of his young career last Thursday against the Tennessee Titans in place of RT Chukwuma Okorafor. He was part of the best performance from the running game this season with a combined 30 carries for 166 yards and a touchdown.
However, that is not enough for Jones. When he spoke with the media Thursday, Jones spoke about his expectations for the run game, per the Tribune-Democrat’s Amanda Godsey.
“Honestly, for me, I don’t feel like that’s good enough,” Jones said. “I came from Georgia. Not to dwell on the past, but we were big on running football, so I want to be 200-plus every time. That’s just me. I know this is the NFL level, but if we gonna commit to the run game, we gotta do it all the way.”
That’s an incredibly lofty goal for the rookie tackle, but it speaks to his mentality. Coming out of Georgia, Jones was seen as a premier prospect at the tackle position both in the passing game and the run game. Evidently, Pittsburgh felt the same way and was willing to trade up to secure him.
A lot has been made about the offensive struggles the Steelers have gone through so far this season. It has been downright ugly at times, in fact. However, one way that offensive coordinator Matt Canada can help stabilize the performance of his players is by committing to the run game and finding what type of run scheme is best suited to his players. Per OT Dan Moore Jr., it appears that Canada has already begun the process of simplifying his run scheme, and it showed against Tennessee. It also doesn’t hurt that Jones turned in quite a respectable performance at right tackle.
Now will the Steelers ever become an offense that runs the ball for 200-plus yards game in and game out? I highly doubt that. However, if the offensive line has the same mentality that Jones is showing, the run game should flourish. Scheme matters, but so does having the mentality of going out there and dominating the defenders in front of you. Jones is showing that he wants to do just that, and perhaps that feeling will get picked up by the rest of his offensive linemates.
Now the question for Jones is if he has secured a starting spot on the line. When he was asked about that, Jones said that he hasn’t been told if he will be starting on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, but he did confirm that he has been practicing with the first-team offense this week.
If that continues to be the case, Jones will have another golden opportunity to help the offense build on a strong outing in the run game from last Thursday. If it’s up to him, the Steelers will have their first 200-yard rushing game since they ran for 217 yards in Week 10 last season in a 20-10 win over the New Orleans Saints.
You can watch the entirety of Jones’ comments to the media below.
