Week 4 was as disappointing as it could be for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They had a prime opportunity to move to 4-0, but instead, they couldn’t seem to do anything right against the Indianapolis Colts until it was too late. They also had some rough injury luck, now reportedly losing James Daniels for the year. Their offensive line is in pieces, following a brutal outing against the Colts. Broderick Jones was part of the problem, and former NFL guard Kyle Long believes Jones could be in for a rough upcoming stretch.
“Playing offensive line is a lot like playing golf in terms of, you know how to do it, you know how to hit the ball,” Long said Monday on his Pushing the Pile podcast. “I know how to get guys blocked, but some days you wake up and your brain and your body are not in sync.
“I feel like we could be looking at a stretch of football for Broderick Jones where the confidence is down. [If] you don’t have the ability to put the brakes on, you’re gonna be either on the bench or without that contract.”
Long isn’t wrong at all. Jones actually already hit the point where he was benched, but Troy Fautanu’s knee injury quickly forced him back into the starting lineup. He looked better in Week 3, but there were still issues to his game. Week 4 seemed to be a step back. The entire Steelers offensive line had a bad day against the Colts, which probably didn’t help Jones at all.
Long played in the NFL from 2013-2021, making three Pro Bowls and being named a second-team All-Pro once. Therefore, he understands both the highs and lows of being an NFL offensive lineman. Maybe what he’s saying isn’t true, but it’s still valuable insight into what could be going on with Jones.
Jones was a raw player coming out of college, but last year, he looked like he could develop into a decent player. He hasn’t seemed to take a step forward though. He responded well after being benched, but after the Colts game, he took to social media to lash out at people criticizing him. That doesn’t exactly scream confidence.
Jones is still a young player, so maybe he can get back on track, but like Long says, things could get pretty bad for him if he allows outside noise to affect him. They Steelers are still 3-1, so there’s no need to panic, but if their offensive line can’t hold up, they could really struggle late in the year.
