All the talk leading up to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ AFC North opener was about third-year left tackle Broderick Jones’ matchup against the Cleveland Browns and star pass rusher Myles Garrett.
The Steelers made it clear that they had a plan to help negate Garrett, and everyone from head coach Mike Tomlin and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith to quarterback Aaron Rodgers expressed confidence and belief in Jones.
Then, on Sunday in the 23-9 win over the Browns, Jones and the Steelers executed that plan very well, holding Garrett to just two assisted tackles, keeping him from getting even a quarterback hit on Rodgers. In the Browns’ loss, Garrett had just one pressure in 24 snaps.
“I appreciate him rising to the challenge this week,” Rodgers said of Jones, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “Obviously you’re playing a generational-type player like that, there’s not gonna be a ton of one-on-ones. We’re gonna throw different things at him. I thought we did a good job with tight ends, various body types and running backs out there trying to chip ’em just to kind of slow ’em down.
“But when he had singles, I felt like Brod, I gotta look at the film, but it seems like he played pretty well.”
Jones allowed just one pressure against the Browns and Garrett. He also helped the Steelers carve out 100 rushing yards as the Steelers battled their way to a big win coming out of the bye week. Despite that strong showing, Pro Football Focus’ preliminary grades coming out of the Steelers’ win crushed Jones.
He graded out initially at just a 51.3 overall, including a 33.9 overall in pass protection. Somehow, Garrett graded out at a 77.5 overall, including an 80.2 as a pass rusher despite just recording one pressure.
The Steelers did a great job of putting Rodgers on the move away from Garrett, rolling him out off play-action fakes to his right, allowing him to cut the field in half and pick at layers. And when he was in a traditional pocket, Rodgers got the ball out quickly, taking away any chance of Garrett getting home.
Earning that type of praise from your quarterback is big for Jones. It’s nothing new though, as Rodgers has had Jones’ back all season, even after a rough start to the season in which he was a mess at left tackle. Since then, Jones has gotten better and better each week, and Rodgers continues to believe in him.
“I think he too, hopefully he wasn’t reading it, but I feel like probably there’s some negative based on the questions I was getting, I think Week 3, some negative thoughts out there about how he was playing. I got a lot of confidence in him,” Rodgers added of Jones. “I really enjoy his energy. Sometimes try and kick him in the ass a little bit in practice to get going, but I like his positivity, and I like he’s always like the first one to come celebrate with me on the field.
“I appreciate that.”
Hearing that Rodgers needs to kick Jones in the rear end a bit to get going in practices isn’t all that surprising, considering coming into the year the Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac reported that the Steelers wanted Jones to take things more seriously and be a better professional.
He’s still a young player at just 24 years old, but he’s growing and maturing each week. And Rodgers believes in him. That goes a long way for a young player. That showed up Sunday in the marquee matchup against Garrett.
