Aaron Rodgers’ poor play drew the most attention last Sunday evening against the Los Angeles Chargers, but he was far from the only offensive player who laid an egg on primetime television. Most offensive linemen had among their worst games of the season, and that sped up the clock on an already-shaky Rodgers.
Broderick Jones addressed the play of the offensive line after Thursday’s practice.
“We gotta be better just as a whole. As a team,” Jones said via TribLive’s Chris Adamski on X. “I don’t think it’s one specific group or one specific person or one specific side of the ball. In all three phases we gotta show up. I feel like everybody’s gotta lock in. We gotta be on one accord. We just gotta come with that fight.”
The offense and special teams units may have been the main culprits against the Chargers, but it was the defense that let the Steelers down at times earlier in the year. It has felt like a game of Whack-a-Mole, where the Steelers hammer out one problem only to have two more pop up in its place. You know it’s bad when Chris Boswell misses a field goal and Ke’Shawn Williams muffs a punt on the same night.
Complementary football is all three groups playing well in unison. Good teams don’t let a single point of failure tank their entire game or season. The Steelers haven’t had a single game where all three phases are clicking at the same time.
As for the offensive line in particular, it has been riding the roller coaster this season. After allowing seven sacks in the first two games, it allowed just two over the next four. That looked like a big enough sample size to prove it had turned the corner as a young and rising group, but the Steelers have allowed three sacks per game over the last three weeks.
Broderick Jones has been one of the main culprits with two sacks and seven total pressures surrendered over the last three games. And for as well as Spencer Anderson has been playing in his tackle-eligible role, he allowed four total pressures against the Chargers.
Last Sunday was a reminder that any progress made up front is still fragile at best.
