Steelers offensive line struggling — but there’s hope
But the line gets most of the blame for a high-powered offense that believes it is good enough to score 30 points per game putting up just three. Roethlisberger often was under duress, especially after the Eagles opened a 20-3 lead early in the third quarter. DeAngelo Williams had nowhere to run. He started the game as the NFL’s leading rusher but finished with 21 yards on eight carries.
“We probably should have stayed with the run a little longer,” Roethlisberger said on his radio show on 93.7 The Fan. “They made us one-dimensional. They know what you’re going to do when they do that.”
Tomlin agreed but made it clear he had little faith in his defense stopping the Eagles. He didn’t think the Steelers could afford to use a lot of time to score. Roethlisberger said the team was hoping to get a quick touchdown to change the momentum of the game. It never came. It didn’t help that Ramon Foster left in the second quarter with a chest injury. “He’s a leader out there,” Maurkice Pouncey said. But that doesn’t excuse what happened to the rest of the line. The Eagles generally rushed four men with the defensive ends taking wide rushes and the defensive tackles bull-rushing up the middle. All-Pro David DeCastro gave up two sacks to tackle Fletcher Cox and was called for two holding penalties that were declined. Pouncey, another All-Pro, was beaten by tackle Bennie Logan for a sack. Marcus Gilbert gave up a sack to end Brandon Graham and was called for a holding penalty that was declined. Alejandro Villanueva also was called for holding.
“That’s not us,” Pouncey said. “That’s not the type of game we should be playing.”
Not when the Steelers have invested roughly $142 million in DeCastro, Pouncey, Gilbert and Foster. It doesn’t seem like it’s asking too much to expect them to play like a million bucks every week.
“We’ve got to be a lot better,” Pouncey said.
The offense should get a big lift Sunday night against Kansas City when Le’Veon Bell returns from his suspension.
“It’s going to be huge,” Roethlisberger said. “We know where he’s the best. Let’s use him in the run game. But we’ll be able to move him around. He becomes maybe the second-best receiver we have. We’ll be able to do a lot of things. …
“We want to go out and show that [Philadelphia game] was an anomaly. We want to show what we can do.”
The line is good enough for that to happen.
“They’ll bounce back, I’m sure of it,” Roethlisberger said.
Not just the line, the whole team.
“There’s no panic,” Roethlisberger said. “We’re 2-1 … 1-0 in the AFC.”
Still, a little confidence boost is good for everyone, even a Hall of Fame-caliber quarterback. Roethlisberger always has his linemen’s back. Quarterback coach Randy Fichtner was there for him earlier this week, reminding him the team survived another hideous day on its previous trip to Philadelphia in 2008. Roethlisberger was sacked eight times in a 15-6 loss and was so discouraged, frustrated, angry and beat up that he said he briefly asked himself if football was worth it.
“How did we end up that year?” Roethlisberger asked.
The Steelers won the Super Bowl.
“Maybe that’s the silver lining,” Roethlisberger said. “Maybe we can look back on this and say, ‘Remember when we got thumped in Philadelphia?’ Absolutely, it can help us.”
Sounds like a group text for the whole team.