The Pittsburgh Steelers have had a few offensive woes through the first eight games of the regular season. These struggles are a result of a multitude of things. This includes the growing pains of a rookie quarterback, a running back that has dipped in production from last year, and the recent move of shipping out a starting wide receiver. The offensive line hasn’t been one of the team’s strong suits either, but Steelers offensive line coach, Pat Meyer gives his take on each of the big men up front.
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Meyer’s Midseason Assessment
When you see the stats for the Steelers offensive line on paper, they don’t jump off the page. So far, the Steelers are shown to be towards the bottom of the list with just four yards per carry (seventh-to-last) and allowing 21 sacks (eighth-to-last). However, Pro Football Focus seems to be not quite as critical as they rank the Steelers higher in terms of run blocking where they’re currently ranked number 20 in the league and pass blocking is ranked number 15.
While rankings and statistics are one thing, Meyer knows more than anyone about how the offensive line plays. He was interviewed earlier in the week and gave a player-by-player analysis of what he has seen from the starting five. He began on the left side of the line with starting offensive tackle, Dan Moore Jr.
KANSAS CITY, MO - JANUARY 16: Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Dan Moore Jr. (65) blocks Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark (55) in the third quarter of an AFC wild card playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs on Jan 16, 2022 at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO. (Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Moore is in his second year in the league and Meyer can already see that he’s coming along well.
“I think Dan’s improved a ton from last year,” Meyer said, “and even the spring, OTAs, training camp — learning how to set the right way, [how] he throws his hands. He’s obviously got a lot of room to improve. He plays, arguably, one of the hardest positions in the NFL.”
Meyer also likes Moore’s fiery spirit and his studious mindset. He believes that as time goes on, Moore will continue to get more experience and get better as a result. Even though Moore received a good amount of praise from Meyer, sadly the same can’t be said about the starting left guard, Kevin Dotson.
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Dotson has made many Steelers fans disgruntled and upset with his performance thus far this season. Dotson leads the league in penalties for an offensive lineman with eight. Even through all that, Meyer feels that Dotson is still doing fairly well.
“Obviously, we can’t have penalties as a line.” Meyer said. “The pre-snap stuff, that’s on us, the line. We can’t have that. You cut that out, and Dot’s been solid.”
Meyer also said that Dotson has continued to progress and improve little by little each week. Moving on, Meyer discussed starting center, Mason Cole, who has been in a unique position this year in terms of snaps.
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To begin the year, Cole was snapping the ball to Mitch Trubisky. Midway through the Steelers Week 4 matchup against the New York Jets, the quarterback shifted to Kenny Pickett, who has remained the team’s starter ever since. Meyer knows that regardless of who is under center for the Steelers, Cole will make the right decisions and correct calls to aid the quarterback.
“Mason identifies things.” Meyer said. “He sees it, he makes calls, he tries to keep us on the right track. Obviously, the quarterback has the ultimate control of how we do things, but Mason is where it starts with that, and he’s been solid in terms of making the right calls, getting the line and the backs in the right direction.”
Meyer notes that Cole being a veteran in his fifth year has been a plus as it allows him to quickly analyze the situation and be able to quickly make any adjustments at the line of scrimmage.
Next up, we’ll be looking at the starting right guard, James Daniels.
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Daniels is someone who has been his own biggest critic according to Coach Meyer. He’s always reflecting on things, whether it’s something big, like missing a block, or something smaller, like hand placement and overall technique.
“That is Jimmy.” Meyer said. “We strive for all of us to be like that, to be critical of ourselves, be critical of what we can do better. Obviously, he’s done a lot of good things. He’s improved from a technique standpoint as much as anyone, with what we’ve been asking him to do since he got here Day 1.”
Last, but by no means least, we get to the starting right tackle, Chukwuma Okorafor.
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Having just signed a three-year extension in the off-season to return to Pittsburgh, Meyer believes that the Steelers’ future will be bright so long as Okorafor continues to display his full potential.
“He’s working his craft.” Meyer said. “He’s still young. He just turned 25 years old. He’s still young, so he’s got a lot to learn, but he is athletic. He’s got all the potential in the world. He does it a lot to where it’s not just flashes; he can be that type of guy in terms of being a lock-down right tackle.”
Durability Paying Dividends For Steelers
This season, the Steelers are one of only three teams in the league that have had all five of their starting offensive linemen play at least ninety-nine percent of the snaps. The more snaps that they’ve taken together, the better the whole unit seems to gel and improve. Meyer hopes that trend will continue after the bye week.
“The five have been the five. They’ve played together now. That’s a big part of it, too, is having consistency with the line,” Meyer said. “Some of them are banged up here and there with minor injuries. But that’s one positive; they’ve been able to stay together, work together and continue to work and progress.”
How do you feel the line has performed so far this year? Let us know in the comment section below.
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