One of the biggest things that stood out in the Pittsburgh Steelers loss to the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night was how poor the Steelers were in the trenches, particularly on offense. Pittsburgh was stuffed on third and fourth-and-short multiple times, unable to thrive in the elements.
For former Steelers linebacker Arthur Moats, that must change going forward.
“The big thing I thought was we got beat in the trenches, offensively and defensively,” Moats told The Extra Point co-host Missi Matthews on the team’s YouTube channel. “When you think about where we spend the most of our draft picks of lately, it’s on the offensive line. When we talk about where we spent the most money defensively, it’s in the trenches. And in games where we weren’t able to dominate that, this is where it gets like that.”
The aforementioned failures on third and short and fourth and short were crushing, but the Steelers offensive line also struggled to protect QB Russell Wilson. Pittsburgh was sacked four times, including the first drive which led to K Chris Boswell attempting and missing a kick from 58-yards. It was just his second miss of the year.
Wilson rarely had time to throw. On the flip side, Browns QB Jameis Winston had plenty of time to survey the field and find open targets all game. Yes, there was a huge strip sack OLB Nick Herbig caused, but for the duration of the night, Winston had time to pick apart the Pittsburgh defense.
Moats is right, given the draft capital Pittsburgh has spent on the offensive line they need to be able to pick up a yard or two when needed, and given the money Pittsburgh has spend on their pass rushers, they need to get the quarterback more often. Despite having a beat up offensive line, the Browns’ offensive line outplayed the Steelers’ by a large margin. That can’t happen.
The Steelers have 10 days to like their wounds before they play the Cincinnati Bengals. Bengals QB Joe Burrow is a much better quarterback than Winston. The Steelers pass rush has to get back causing havoc or it could be a long day as Burrow and the Bengals offensive is capable of putting up 30-plus points each week. Additionally, Pittsburgh’s offensive line has to play better as they have to control the clock and convert on crucial third and/or fourth-and-shorts.
