Through the first two weeks of the season, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive line hasn’t done a good enough job of protecting 41-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
He’s been sacked seven times and hit 15 times in total on just 65 drop backs. At his age, and with the investments the Steelers have made in their offensive line in recent years, that’s not good enough.
And it won’t get any easier in Week 3 against the New England Patriots, who lead the NFL in sacks with nine through two games.
“I am excited to see how Aaron Rodgers handles pressure in this game because it’s been erratic, I would say, through two weeks. And the Patriots defense, which has stunk overall, you mentioned it earlier, getting that pass rush against Miami. Their pass rush has actually been quite good,” NFL Network analyst Gregg Rosenthal said Thursday on the The Mina Kimes Show, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “They haven’t blitzed too much over overall through two weeks and their pressure rate is really high. Milton Williams has looked good. K’Lavon Chaisson is having a little renaissance after having some good snaps last year. And Harold Landry’s been good for them. So if you get pressure on Aaron Rodgers, what is he gonna do?
“Because for a guy that doesn’t want to get hit and he clearly doesn’t want to get hit, he’s sure getting hit a lot. He is taking a lot of big hits and not throwing the ball deep at all, which is a bad combination.”
Of his 63 pass attempts this season, Rodgers has attempted just seven 20-plus yards down the field. According to Pro Football Focus, he’s 3-for-7 on those throws for 61 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Those seven pass attempts account for just 11.1% of his throws, the lowest percentage of his throws based on depth.
More than 65% of his throws have been either behind the line of scrimmage or within 0-9 yards of it. Almost everything is quick, and that’s in large part due to Steelers’ offensive line struggles. Rodgers is averaging 2.64 seconds time to throw on the season.
The offensive line, according to Pro Football Focus, has allowed 22 pressures in two weeks. Now, it will be going up against a team that not only leads the NFL with sacks with nine but also has a league-high 39 pressures. The PAtriots get after the quarterback consistently, and they do so without blitzing much.
They just line up and whip the offensive line consistently. That’s going to be a real problem for the Steelers and Rodgers. After two weeks of getting knocked around, the Steelers’ offensive line needs to be much better in Week 3. Head coach Mike Tomlin was somehow encouraged by the performance in Week 2 against Seattle, at least from a protection standpoint.
But it needs to be better. On the road in Foxboro looking for their first win there since 2008, the Steelers have to protect Rodgers. If they can give him some time to push the ball farther down the field, the Steelers should be able to create some chunk plays against a linebacker and secondary group that has struggled, allowing the most 20-plus yard plays on the season with 13.
