Ten Thoughts: The Steelers’ offensive line is outstanding
A week after Mason Rudolph was given a game ball for his work in a win over the Bengals, the Steelers handed out multiple game balls following their 30-23 victory here Sunday over the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field.
This time, it was the offensive line that earned Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin’s praise.
And why not? The Steelers had just run their way to a win over the Seahawks, rolling up a season-high 202 yards on the ground and holding the football for 37:33 of the 60-minute game.
With a banged-up defense working against an explosive Seattle offense, it was just what the doctor ordered for the Steelers, who improved to 9-7 and kept their playoff hopes alive with the victory.
“I thought the offensive line provided the wave that we rode,” said Tomlin.
Thing is, the line performed very much like a wave, sweeping Seattle defenders off the line of scrimmage again and again and again.
“Coach put the onus on the big guys,” said left tackle Dan Moore Jr. “We knew the plan was to run the ball. We just came out with our ears pinned back and wanted to deliver.”
It doesn’t always happen that way. The Steelers have gone into a lot of games wanting to run the ball like they did in this game. But they knew early on they had the Seahawks on the run. And it’s a great feeling for a line.
“100 percent, especially when you see those guys huffing and puffing with their hands on their hips,” said Moore. “You’re hitting the runs for 10-plus yards. There’s no better feeling.”
Even at that, however, the line didn’t want to take all of the credit for this game. Obviously, running backs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren played a big part, as well.
But so did the other offensive players. You don’t break off second-level runs without the wide receivers and tight ends blocking downfield and at the point of attack, as well.
“We’ve always had it in us,” said rookie right tackle Broderick Jones. “It’s just the ability of all the offense to lock in as a whole, everybody being on the same page, all 11 guys that are on the field, playing like one band, on one chord. And then just coming out and executing. Us imposing our will throughout the whole game, that’s a big factor in it.”
The offense rode that wave throughout this game, doing pretty much whatever it wanted to do against Seattle. The end result was a season-high 468 yards and a second 30-point effort in a row.
It also allowed the Steelers to control the pace of the game, which, in turn, helped the defense. The Steelers ran 71 plays. The Seahawks ran 49 offensive plays.
That put additional pressure on Seattle’s offense that a banged-up Steelers defense just wasn’t capable of doing.
“Our offense, I don’t know how many times we actually had the ball the entire game,” said Seattle wide receiver Tyler Lockett.
That number was actually nine times. Seattle had nine possessions. It went three-and-out on three of those and turned the ball over on the first play of another possession.
And with the Steelers — who didn’t have a three-and-out offensively the entire game — consistently moving the ball, it made the Seahawks press on offense.
“Props to the o-line,” said defensive tackle Cameron Heyward. “The o-line did an amazing job today. Blocking, finishing runs. It was a complete offensive performance. You tip your hat to them.”
• Harris and Warren, as mentioned, played a big part in that, as well. There were times when both players just refused to go down, running through tackles and keeping themselves upright to gain more yards.
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