With a 41-year-old quarterback to protect, the Pittsburgh Steelers knew they were putting a lot of faith in left tackle Broderick Jones heading into the year. After the first week of the season, that decision is yet to pay off. Jones struggled mightily throughout Sunday’s win. At his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Mike Tomlin acknowledged those issues.
“You know certainly, it could be better,” Tomlin said of Jones’ performance. “But certainly, all of our performances could be better. As I mentioned, our quarterback got hit too much, and he was a component of that.”
Struggles at the NFL level are nothing new to Jones, unfortunately. The 2023 first-round pick has bounced around from right to left tackle throughout his short career, and his inability to find himself a home has given him grace from some. Heading into his third year, many hoped that finally settling down at left tackle could help kickstart his development.
There’s a long season ahead, but that development was not evident on Sunday. Jones was struggling with things that just shouldn’t happen for a third-year tackle, especially someone who was a first-round selection.
Jones couldn’t do anything against the Jets’ edge rushers at all on Sunday. In the clip above, Will McDonald IV flies around him on the inside, despite lining up across from Jones’ outside shoulder. He simply didn’t have the lateral quickness to compete here, a problem that popped up a few different times on Sunday. Aside from that, he couldn’t place his hands in the right spot, and there were times when he was simply bull rushed and pushed into the backfield.
Broderick Jones isn’t the only young tackle on the offensive line. Troy Fautanu played his second NFL game on Sunday, and Tomlin had some thoughts on him as well.
“Just like Broderick, I thought he had some good moments,” Tomlin said. “I thought he certainly could be better, as I mentioned, as a collective. We got our quarterback hit too often for my liking. And so, we’re back to the lab.”
Fautanu still has some things to work on. However, he’ll get much more grace than Jones given the difference in experience between the two. That said, he did struggle as well, although his issues were less apparent than Jones’.
Really, it was a bad day for the entire offensive line. The Steelers won in spite of it, thanks to their quarterback turning back the clock and putting in an excellent performance. But in many ways, that win may not be sustainable.
For one, you can’t rely on a 41-year-old passer throwing four touchdowns every game. Especially when he’s getting sacked four times and taking some decent shots in the process. Beyond just their inability to pass block, the Steelers couldn’t get any sort of run game going either. The line wasn’t opening up anything on the ground, which forced the offense to be mostly one-dimensional.
Again, there are still 17 weeks ahead of us, and the Steelers’ pair of tackles are very young. However, they’ve got to start growing up quickly. That’s especially the case for Broderick Jones.
