Coming into the 2023 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers seemed to make it quite clear that they wanted to play bully-ball football after investing in the offensive line some more with the signing of guard Isaac Seumalo and the selections of tackle Broderick Jones and tight end Darnell Washington in the NFL Draft.
So far this season though, they’ve been anything but bullies offensively, especially in the trenches.
That has former Steelers offensive lineman turned media analyst Ramon Foster questioning who the Steelers are, and what they’re good at offensively. Appearing on 93.7 The Fan’s Morning Show Thursday ahead of the Week Nine matchup between the Steelers and Tennessee Titans, Foster wondered where “the goons” are in the trenches, the tough guys, the ones that will mix it up and set the tone.
“I don’t know what their identity is. Who are the goons? Who are the guys that’s gonna move the line of scrimmage? There was times where you had to fight City Hall, where they might stack the box with 7, 8, 9 people. Where’s the line of scrimmage moving?” Foster stated to Morning Show co-hosts Adam Crowley and Dorin Dickerson, according to audio via 93.7 The Fan’s Twitter page. “How are you guys capable of taking over a game, whether it be the first drive of the game, walking it down 50 yards even for a touchdown or a field goal? We hadn’t consistently seen that. Nobody’s really moving the line of scrimmage consistently as you need them to move them.
“How do you body people like you walk on that field and, of course I can speak for me and I don’t wanna be, ‘Hey, old guy talking here,’ but there is a level of screw what you’re talking about, right? You about to get whooped. And I don’t know if I’ve seen that consistently from this group.”
Foster is spot-on with his assessment. The Steelers don’t exactly have any goons up front right now, not like they did when he, center Maurkice Pouncey and right guard David DeCastro were together for nearly a decade in the Black and Gold, setting the tone up front.
Though Seumalo has played well since coming to the Steelers, he hasn’t been that impact-type player the Steelers were hoping for. He’s had his fair share of struggles, too, though he is settling well into his role in the Steel City.
Center Mason Cole has regressed this season after having a solid first year in Pittsburgh, displaying his overall limitations at the position, while names like right guard James Daniels and tackles Dan Moore Jr. and Chukwuma Okorafor have been far too inconsistent. Heck, even Jones — whom the Steelers moved up to No. 14 to acquire in the first round — is struggling to see the field right now behind Moore, though that’s not exactly an indictment on him.
The Steelers have no identity in the trenches offensively. They don’t have that bread and butter player that Foster talked about his group having back in the day, and the Steelers’ offense overall doesn’t have an identity, which is very concerning even if head coach Mike Tomlin continues to try and downplay it.
There’s very little confidence in the offensive line right now, from both a run game and pass protection standpoint. That’s an indictment on second-year offensive line coach Pat Meyer as his group has regressed hard from the second half of last season, and it’s an indictment on the Steelers’ front office and the moves they’ve made the last two years.
Good news for the Steelers is that there’s plenty of football left to be played to try and turn it around up front, and that starts Thursday night on a short week in a must-win game.
