Throughout the early portion of the season, the Pittsburgh Steelers were getting absolutely nothing from the tight end position from a blocking perspective.
The poor play from a blocking perspective led to serious criticism from members of the media and former Steelers players, including Merril Hoge and Chris Hoke. Hoge made the headlines, stating in early December that the tight ends looked like “two turtles humping” when trying to block.
Fast forward a few weeks and that criticism has disappeared as the Steelers’ tight ends have improved greatly from a blocking perspective and have played a key role in the Steelers’ resurgence down the stretch, finishing the regular season 10-7.
Hoke, who was critical of the Steelers’ tight ends a few weeks ago, spoke glowingly of the group Saturday after the 17-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens during an appearance on KDKA-TV’s Extra Point show.
“I’ve been very critical of our tight ends this season. I’ve been very critical of Pat Freiermuth and they’re ability to block on the edge,” Hoke said, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “If you watch. If you want to have a good running game, you’ve got to block. Coach Tomlin always talks about tight ends versus d-ends when you go against the 4-3 defense. These tight ends over the last month have improved drastically.
“They’re doing a good job now. They are sealing the edge, they’re knocking those ends off the ball and that’s a big reason why they’re having success in the running game as well.”
Prior to the recent run from the Steelers over the last three weeks, the tight end group was really struggling to create much movement in the run game. In fact, they were getting dominated on the edges, leading to serious struggles in the run game as the edges collapsed quickly against the run.
That’s all changed in recent weeks as the tight ends have played very well in the run game, moving defenders off the spot, creating quite a bit of displacement.
It’s quite clear that the tight ends have heard that previous criticism this season, and they’ve responded. It helps that they are fully healthy and on the field consistently at this point, too. After missing a handful of games due to a hamstring injury, Freiermuth stated earlier in the week that he feels he’s “in a groove” from a blocking perspective, and that’s showing.
Washington, who came into the league touted for his blocking as an extra lineman, has seemingly punched through that proverbial rookie wall, taking his game to the next level as a blocker in recent weeks, becoming a key piece to the Steelers’ offensive attack, especially as they lean on the run game.
Even Connor Heyward has taken a significant step forward as a blocker with his hand in the dirt, playing quite well in recent weeks as the Steelers have leaned heavily on the 12 and 13 personnel in recent weeks.
There’s been a drastic improvement for the Black and Gold from the tight end room from a blocking perspective. It’s come at a great time.
