The Steelers' offense struggled again in their 16-10 loss to the Jets at Metlife Stadium on Sunday. That's not surprising, but after another rough performance by the team's offensive line it's clear Kevin Colbert needs to seriously address the unit in the offseason.
I've made a point to emphasize the importance of the offensive line as the final classroom to preview the Steelers' games against both the Bills and the Jets.
That was because both teams had talented personnel that could dominate the line of scrimmage and make life hard for Devlin Hodges, and eventually Mason Rudolph. But in back to back weeks the Steelers allowed four sacks. In the biggest of games, this unit used to be what pulled the team to victory and not crumble in big moments.
Some of the sacks have resulted from Hodges or Rudolph holding onto the ball too long, but there have been multiple instances with fundamental breakdowns in the protection. Neville Hewitt rushed from being an inside linebacker along with Jamal Adams off the edge.
The Steelers had the right protection called with Jaylen Samuels switching over to pick up Adams. But Feiler looks away from Hewitt in his rush and rushes to pick up Adams. Doing so allows Hewitt a free shot at Rudolph, resulting in a huge sack:
The Steelers' offensive line used to handle overload blitzes better than any unit in the NFL. Between communication, execution and positioning, they would wipe out pass rushers and give quarterbacks time to dissect secondaries thinned out by all out blitzes.
But now basics are being missed and it's costing the Steelers in an offense that's already extremely limited because of its personnel. The line was supposed to be a reliable part of the offense that compensated for the team's lack of playmakers in 2019.
That hasn't happened even with longtime veterans on the roster like Ramon Foster. Watch how Quinnen Williams, the third overall selection of the 2019 NFL Draft. The Jets show that they're blitzing from the left, but one pass rusher rolls to the right and Williams sneaks past Foster for an easy sack on Hodges:
When issues start to pile up for a unit, you start to see the basic functions also come unglued. The Steelers' offense has usually been consistent at several aspects of the game. But as this season's struggles have continued we've seen the protection get progressively worse and more mistakes in simple quarterback-center exchanges.
The results have been 11 sacks in the last three games. Add that to the botched snaps and inconsistency in the run game and it's been a nightmare for this group. Maurkice Pouncey had several miscues in his snaps this season and B.J. Finney also struggled with multiple misses yesterday:
The bad snaps seem to come in games where they face serious pressure up the middle from multiple rushers or dominant defensive tackles like Aaron Donald, when Pouncey snapped the ball over Rudolph's head on the opening play of the game.
The departure of Mike Munchak could be the source of these problems, but the bottom line is that the group is lacking the talent it needs with the current status of the offense. Even when Ben Roethlisberger returns in 2020, the offensive line has to be able to protect him better than they have Rudolph and Hodges in the final stretch of this season.
Regardless of who is the offensive line's coach, Feiler, Foster and Alejandro Villanueva have had rough seasons. Foster is well beyond his prime, but both Villanueva and Feiler have been inconsistent at best this season. Colbert originally built this generation of offensive linemen behind Pouncey, David DeCastro and Marcus Gilbert as the anchors.
But with Gilbert gone the team hasn't had a third player step up to become another anchor. If the Steelers hope to reassert their offense in 2020, it most likely will come with at least an addition or two to build a new group to run and throw behind.
MORE CLASSROOM
Dec. 21: Better plans for O-line
Dec. 19: Double-edged defensive aggression
Dec. 18: Offensive woes bigger than Fichtner
Dec. 17: Bush settles into NFL role
