The Pittsburgh Steelers as a team needed the bye week in Week 9 to get an important break, regroup and get relatively healthy ahead of the gauntlet of a schedule in the second half of the season.
Right now, it seems like they’ll get some key pieces back on both sides of the football after the bye week entering Week 10 against the Washington Commanders, which is great news for the Steelers, should the likes of rookie center Zach Frazier and second-year outside linebacker Nick Herbig return to the lineup.
The bye week was key for one offensive piece for the Steelers, a player who the team needs to get back on track and find his game once again. That a would be starting right tackle Broderick Jones, who had a disastrous first half of the season and really struggled in pass protection while dealing with an elbow injury suffered in training camp.
His play fell off a cliff in the first half.
For former Steelers’ quarterback and current radio analyst Charlie Batch, the bye week came at a perfect time for Jones. Appearing on 102.5 WDVE Monday morning, Batch stated that Jones was the one Steeler who needed the bye week the most, not only regroup mentally, but to get a bit healthier.
“They have 100% confidence in him and there has been a lot of talk with him between him going from right tackle to left tackle and of course he’s staying at right. To me, it just like he’s battling some injuries, right. And nobody’s healthy, especially this time of the year, but if one person needed a break during the bye week, that is Broderick Jones,” Batch said, according to audio via 102.5 WDVE. “So if he can get back to being healthy, we know he’s been tested mentally, but if he can get to that point of playing dominant football and battling through some of these nicks and nitpick injuries that he’s dealing with, man, I think ultimately he’s gonna continue to hold that right side down.”
Jones suffered the elbow injury rather early in training camp and was once playing with a huge elbow brace on his right arm. To Jones’ credit, he wouldn’t use it as an excuse, but it was pretty clear that Jones was hindered by the brace and defenders were attacking him.
But since shedding the brace, Jones has arguably been worse. He’s allowed a sack in three straight games, doesn’t look all that good or locked in on film, and had offensive line coach Pat Meyer stating to the media last week that he needs to focused more. That’s really concerning to hear.
There is no denying the talent Jones has, though. There’s a reason why the Steelers traded up to select him in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft out of Georgia. He has all the tools, but he’s going through an awful second season.
On the season, Jones has played 476 snaps for the Steelers — all at right tackle. He currently has a grade of 46.6 overall from Pro Football Focus, which is 113th out of 126 tackles graded so far this season. He’s allowed 21 pressures on the year and 7 sacks, which is the most any tackle has given up this season, according to PFF.
Any metric you attempt to look at with Jones is bad. He’s playing very, very poorly.
But the bye week came at a great time for Jones, who has the chance to regroup mentally and physically and bounce back in the second half. The Steelers need him to do exactly that.
