Madden Monday: Steelers offensive line 'might be worse' than last year — and it may impact the QB thinking too
There have been plenty of positives to discuss regarding the Pittsburgh Steelers’ victories in each of their first two preseason games.
• All three quarterbacks — Mitch Trubisky, Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph — have performed very well.
• The wide receivers — namely rookie George Pickens — have impressed.
• The safety position looks deeper and more versatile this year.
• They’ve won both games with good execution on late touchdown drives from the offense, following clutch turnovers from the defense.
On the negative side, though, there’s the offensive line.
In both games, it has exposed the quarterbacks to lots of pressure. Four sacks over two contests doesn’t seem like much. But the ability of the Steelers QBs to escape the pressure has kept that number low.
And the run blocking wasn’t much to speak of Saturday during the 16-15 victory in Jacksonville either. The team gained a measly 24 yards on 14 carries.
Trubisky was especially adept at keeping plays alive despite constantly having opposing players in his face. But as coach Mike Tomlin said after the win, evaluating Trubisky is hard because the O-line play in front of him has been so poor.
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“We have got to do a better job of protecting (Trubisky) and having some semblance of a run game if you want a fair evaluation. I’m just being bluntly honest,” Tomlin said.
Mark Madden of TribLIVE and 105.9 The X was even more direct than that in this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast.
“I can’t believe how bad the Steelers offensive line has looked in the first two preseason games. It looks like it might be worse than last year,” Madden declared.
Based on what we saw last year, that’s pretty bad. The guy that stands out the most to Madden is the left tackle.
“Dan Moore Jr. is a turnstile,” Madden continued. “He was pretty good last year as a rookie fourth-round pick. Maybe he just operated on adrenaline because now he just looks like a fourth-round pick. The adrenaline has dissipated.”
At the guard spots, Madden said free-agent signee James Daniels and second-year player Kendrick Green have struggled too.
“Daniels was supposed to be this godsend. He looks terrible. Kendrick Green looks like a bad guard instead of a bad center (which is where Green played last year),” Madden said. “I’m not noticing (center) Mason Cole or (right tackle) Chuks (Okorafor) very much, which is the best we can hope for any individual along that offensive line.”
Madden agreed with my assessment that the O-line has been so bad that it’s inefficiency may influence what choices the Steelers make at quarterback between Trubisky, Rudolph and Pickett.
For instance, even if Pickett is making a push to be the starting QB in Week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals, would the Steelers really expose their long-term QB of the future, behind that offensive line for the first six weeks of a brutal schedule, just to potentially get knocked around and booed to the bench?
Probably not. Trubisky may have to be the one to endure that beating until the line jells, and then perhaps Pickett is called upon in Week 7 to ride in on the white horse.
“Part of me thinks that’s true. And it definitely makes sense,” Madden said. “But that’s not how they operate. The most important thing for them to do is to win the next game. They never look long term. … That would be a departure from what they always have done.”
Another area where shoddy blocking could influence roster construction is with Rudolph. Forget trading him for a draft choice. He suddenly becomes much more valuable to keep as injury insurance if Pickett and Trubisky are constantly running for their lives.
Madden and I kick around that angle during the podcast. Plus, we dive into some details about the defense, other AFC North issues and Pirates general manager Ben Cherington’s defense of his players after Dennis Eckersley’s comments.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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