Anybody concerned about the Offensive Line

The sacks given up by Jones were not scheme related. It was technique and development related and perhaps injury related.

 

I didn't follow the Broncos but did see the numbers compared to our QB's numbers. TBH got me excited. I heard same thing from a Bronco fan but I'm in a wait and see mode.

 

Good post! But damn you we are 0-2, seasons over.

 

My concern with Wilson is he takes a ton of sacks. Those sacks in the preseason weren’t do to him though. The issue is he is legitimately short and can not see the field as clearly so it takes him more time to find open receivers. This line was not great and has not been great in pass protection. We had the fourth least blitzes against last year and like the 9th highest total in pressures given up. That means teams are dropping back into maximum coverage and still putting pressure on the QB. If we can’t block this offense is gong to be a disaster. Arthur Smiths offense is completely predicated around our ability to block.

I just don’t know why you keep the old Oline coach who has proven absolutely nothing when you have a new Offensive Coordinator coming in. Why would you not allow Arthur Smith to choose the right O line coach for his system, preferably someone he has worked with before. It makes absolutely no sense to me. This is where it is maddening with Tomlin. He has alot to good elements but handling the coaches and evaluating coaching talent does not appear to be one of them. He was phenomenal in that area when he first came into the league. He was wise enough to leave Lebeau in place and let him coach. Now it seem he has changed.

 

What’s your excuse for the Bills game? Jones play wasn’t scheme related. It wasn’t position related either.

 

His whole career up to and including last year.

 

Mind you, I said that said style of Offense has "ever worked for him." I never dismissed him playing it ever. Only that his success rate has been poor; doubly so within the previous two seasons.

 

We didn’t do Pickett any favors with the scheme or the poor line but Pickett has faults. He is way to any in the pocket and his field awareness, pocket presence and ability to go through progressions was heavily lacking. Can that be developed perhaps but we aren’t the team to do that. I don’t think we ever will be until we establish a foundation offensive system with a solid identity and yes offensive line and run game to support the QB. I thought we were getting that with Arthur Smith but he has an out because he can always say well you didn’t let me bring in my choice of offensive line coach. Smith has always had good offensive lines wherever he coached. Was that because of him or did he luck out and inherit those lines?

 

I wasn't making excuses about the first game, just stating facts. As far as the Bills game goes...did you read my 2nd paragraph about the Oline being played all over the place. They have had Jones playing both right and left, Fautanu a first round draft pick and not starting and playing both sides and Moore still starting at LT and saying he can't play the right side (smh). On top of that we draft a 2nd round center, with 4 yrs of actual center experience in college, and he wasn't starting yet...mind blowing. It proves my point on why the Oline kinda looks in shambles right now. As far as Broderick Jones..he looked like **** but It's been mentioned he was playing with a brace on his arm. Could he be hurt a little and not playing up to par...I'm not sure. But you can't be flipping back and forth and be expected to be gaining valuable reps and be comfortable in pass blocking. You have to kick step and punch with the opposite hand on the other side. It's been said by Moore and olineman in general that switching sides is like trying to wipe your ass with the other hand.

 

I think Mason got the raw end of the stick. He probably would have been good in Arthur Smiths offense too. But if we can’t pass protect then will it even matter who the QB is.

 

Your proving my point. This is by far a coaching issue. Tomlin and the Oline coach and also Smith are all culpable for this. Someone in the room has to stand up and say this is madness. Even if it is Tomlin’s idea of position flexibility at a certain point Smith and or Meyer have to say this is not working. Its wrong for the players development and its wrong for the cohesion of the offensive line. If these guys can’t approach Tomlin when he is wrong then that is a bigger issue. If Tomlin can’t see this being an issue and he allows the Coordinators to make mistakes of this magnitude then he has to recognize it and step in say your idea of moving this guy all over the place isn't working. Somebody has to step in and own it and speak up and make the correct changes. Have they not learned with Dotson? I don’t think this is on Arthur Smith and I am hopeful his future career is on the line so I am hopeful he will step up and say this has got to stop. He needs to take control of that line room even if it means challenging Tomlin behind the scenes. They aren’t going to get better or develop these guys if they don’t.

Why the heck does Moore Jr. get so much grace anyway. If he can’t play RT then fine your going to sit behind the younger guys and give them a chance to develop and were going to put our five best players on the field. Your performance over the last few years doesn’t afford you the opportunity to call the shots. If you want a chance to start again you have to play swing tackle and compete at both spots. I understand Moore is the incumbent but he isn’t the guy with the pedigree. Broderick should have been getting first team snaps from the beginning of training camp. They were fearful of committing to Fautunu early on in training camp now as a result they got a mess on their hands with Broderick.

Tomlin clearly knows Defense much better than offense. Somebody has to tell him switching up line positions isn’t like switching up edge players or db’s from side to side.

 

last year? KC has been in the super bowl 4 of the last 5 years. 5 years is a long time in NFL years.

 

Only 1 player on defense were with the chiefs in 2019 and 2023(Chris Jones)....They were one of the youngest and also one of the best 2-3 defenses in the NFL last year....Yes this is possible to have a young and great unit

 

I agree. Playing too high. He got rolled on his butt a few times last year on bull rushes. Coaches can teach it but if players don't do it, it makes both look bad. Do you think Meyer gets to say who plays?

 

I agree. They turned their offensive line around in one year as well. They went from a high scoring explosive offense with Tyrell hill to a ball control offense not ground and pound but efficient with a great defense. That’s great coaching. Reid and Shanahan are the best coaches in football. The difference is Reid has Mahomes. The third and fourth are McVay and and the Jamboni in Baltimore. I like Detroits coach as well he reminds if Cowher a lot.

the Steelers have been messing around with the offensive line for years and the ILB room. I think we finally fixed the ILB. My concern is we will be messing around with the QB’s for years now.

 

I don’t know what to think. At times it appears Tomlin is a micromanager then other times it appears he is completely hands off. I just really wish they would have allowed Smith to bring in his Oline coach so there were no excuses. I know they are hard to find but Meyer doesn’t have a glowing track record at least in looking at how his past olines ranked in the nfl.

 

Well all it takes is a quick look, right?

The Russell Wilson-led Broncos played in 8 one score games and 7 two score games in 2023. In the one-score games 15 TD passes were thrown. In the 8 multi-score games, 11 TD's were thrown. One of the multi score games was a 24-9 beatdown of the eventual SB champ KC Chiefs where Russ threw 3 scores... They had 4 blowout losses and 5 TD's were thrown. They had 3 blowout wins and 8 TD's were thrown.

So, no. He didn't throw most of his TD's (or really many) in garbage time scenarios.

 

Oh I remember how could I forget. Pickett was droppin dimes until the season started and he looked very pedestrian

 

Well, I thought that I was engaging in actual conversation and not pure snark.

Yes, in his early starts he had happy feet and was at the bottom of that then group of starting QB’s. Now, neither you or I were able to witness his development day to day with the practice squad and wherever else the coaches used him. He MUST have showed development and growth that they largely ingnored because they gave him every opportunity to leave and seek employment elsewhere.

They again started that very bad QB Tribisky and not much better Pickett over him until they couldn’t keep going back to the same two duds. Once Rudolph finally got the start again after a few seasons, he sparked that offense big time and they won while it was now clear to all of us fans watching that he clearly displayed good pocket awareness, growth and development. He lost his happy feet too.

So, you think all of that is inaccurate? You saw something different?

 

might want to read this.

https://www.steelers.com/team/coaches-roster/pat-meyer

 

It also helps that Chris Jones will very likely head to Canton Ohio once his playing career is over. I personally wont be surprised if he is an all decade player.

 

Another reason why Pat Meyer vs. Mike Munchak should not be a comparison. One was gifted with Perennial Pro Bowl to All Pro talent; the other was tasked with developing mostly "Diaper Dans". Broderick is still way too early to be dismissed a bust and Troy Fautanus first game against two Pro Bowl Caliber EDGEs is a stark reminder that the NCAA and the NFL are two different beasts all together. On the flip side, Spencer Anderson has improved from year one to year two and Ryan McCollum will likely be the backup heading into the season; something that is quite of note given that Nate is lost for the season.

 

That 2018 season with only 17 sacks doesn’t point out they had the highest number of throwaways. The guy had a lot if down years as well. They aren’t going to include those in his biography on the team page.

I still really think the Dotson situation really speaks volumes. Either Meyer is good but Tomlin dictates things and he is afraid to speak up or Tomlin allows him to have full control and he was competent to get the most out of Dotson.

 

meyer is good at teaching outside zone blocking and smith runs the outside zone scheme. they fit. have to have the horses that can run those schemes and learn them. jones needs to step up his game in pass protection. he needs to put in the work. moore works his butt off but may not be as good of athlete as jones. as i said jones has to put the work in.

 

this is year 3 for anderson. usually the year the light really comes on. i have to say cook looked pretty good against the bills as well. i haven't seen him on the right side though. we probably will though. anderson will get more time on the interior now that herbig is out. there will be a little shuffling going on and players not getting all the starter reps right now with these injuries. i hate preseason because of this. warren, herbig, jones, troy, wilson, a few others in the defensive backfield. hard to get cohesion this way.