Like many others, Ben Roethlisberger hasn’t pulled any punches regarding Broderick Jones. Moving around the offensive line during the first two years of his career, Jones didn’t get off to a great start as he tried to settle in at left tackle in 2025.
Steelers fans were begging for improvement from Jones. And over the last couple of games, the improvement has been there. Now, Roethlisberger feels the need to give Jones some credit.
“I feel like now is the time that I would like to also acknowledge when he’s doing better,” Roethlisberger said on his Footbahlin podcast, posted Tuesday. “He is playing better. Every week, he’s getting better. Which is awesome, because you want it to keep trending the right direction… All in all, he is making big strides and playing better. So I wanted to take this moment to give him kudos for working, for getting better… Broderick Jones, keep it up; you’re doing much better.”
Broderick Jones is still nowhere near a perfect tackle. However, the improvement from the start of the year to now is certainly noticeable. He was terrible in Week 1 against New York, allowing three sacks. That was part of a poor performance across the entire offensive line to start the season, in which Rodgers was sacked seven times in the first two weeks.
With Rodgers as old as he is, that’s not sustainable. The line understood that, and they must get credit for their performance since then. After those seven sacks in two weeks, it’s only happened twice to Rodgers in the last three games. And against both New England and Cleveland, the Steelers didn’t allow any sacks.
It was a difficult task against a Browns’ defense that entered last Sunday as one of the best units in the NFL. At the heart of that is Myles Garrett, whom the Steelers managed to completely shut down. Roethlisberger didn’t expect Garrett to have such a small impact.
“Where is this vaunted defense?” Roethlisberger asked. “Where is Myles Garrett, player of the year? Like, he didn’t do anything. They did nothing… Going against one of the best pass rushers in the game, really shutting him down.”
Garrett has had a solid year, but the Steelers had an excellent plan for him. He didn’t get any pressure on Rodgers and had just two assisted tackles on the day.
Broderick Jones didn’t do it all alone; he certainly had some help from the Steelers’ game plan. But he has to get his credit. After the first two weeks, we looked at players like Myles Garrett with fear, given how Jones looked to begin the year. Now, just about a month later, he put together quite a performance against one of the best defenders in the league.
