Home Steelers 2015 Season Steelers’ Offensive Line Will Make or Break Them Without Big Ben

Steelers’ Offensive Line Will Make or Break Them Without Big Ben

by Steeldad

For the first time this year we saw some dents in the armor of the Steelers’ offensive line. After helping the unit to a top ranking through two weeks which included success in both rushing and passing, the O-line was beaten badly yesterday by an aggressive Rams’ front.

The problems for the unit were two-fold in St. Louis. They struggled to open any running lanes for a majority of the time and as the game wore on, they were giving up more and more pressure in the face of Ben Roethlisberger. In my opinion, this offensive line works best when Big Ben can get the ball out quickly as designed.

Once the Rams started to take away some of the quick-hitting routes that were successful early in the game, the line struggled. They couldn’t keep the pressure from collapsing the pocket and perhaps what was even more disheartening was the fact that several of the Rams’ blitzes were right out of the Ravens’ playbook.

In the screenshot below you’ll see how the Rams are overloading the weak side of the Steelers’ formation. We saw the Ravens have great success with this in their playoff victory.

steelers rams 1

The play at left resulted in a sack. Kelvin Beachum was overwhelmed while Ramon Foster and Le’Veon Bell were adequate at best in their blocking.

Ben was in the shotgun and took a three-stop drop. By the time he finished his drop, the pressure was already there. He had absolutely no time to get rid of the ball.

This is a good blitz package against this set because it forces Bell to have to block. If he releases, then a man comes free. Roethlisberger should have had the confidence pre-snap that his three could take on their three long enough for him to deliver the ball.

That was obviously not the case and it wasn’t the only time we saw this blitz from the Rams.

With Baltimore coming in on a short week, Michael Vick will need to get up to speed fast on reading the blitzes. That goes for the O-line as well. While they don’t have to worry about Terrel Suggs this season, they will still have to look for these types of packages from the Ravens.

Much of the anxiety this offensive line could give us will be lessened with a solid running game. DeAngelo Williams must have more than one carry as he had in St. Louis. I think this will come to fruition with Big Ben out. Todd Haley has to know the less the ball is in the hands of Vick the less chance he has of turning it over.

Again, this all comes back to the line. I don’t think any of them deserved great accolades Sunday but I thought David DeCastro (with the exception of maybe one drive) was very solid. Marcus Gilbert wasn’t bad either and that should tell you the Rams tended to attack Kelvin Beachum’s side. Combine that with the fact that Ramon Foster is not a great pass blocker and you have yourself a weakness.

My guess is that you’ll see more heavy sets this week and don’t be surprised if rookie Jesse James gets a helmet for the first time. Mike Munchak is an excellence line coach and I know he will have addressed the problems that plagued his unit Sunday. The question is, can they execute?

Many of us are pointing to Bell and Antonio Brown and the defense to carry this team during Ben’s absence and they should but I believe the success will ride with the O-line. Can they protect Vick and open holes? They had better or else we are in for a long stretch of games.

 

You may also like

2 comments

Ben Anderson September 28, 2015 - 6:40 pm

Nice job. 100% agree with the premise of this article.
Although, I feel strongly that Gregg Williams is a superior defensive mind to Dean Pees. Pees’ success has been largely due to the talent on his squads.

bob graff September 28, 2015 - 8:24 pm

Why all the belief that DeCastro is anything more than adequate. When has our inside run game worked??? Answer not since he’s been here. So just stop it and quit trying to paint this horse a different color. He is average nothing more or less, I know it sounds like i’m bashing him but Donald ate him, Wallace and Foster up. My biggest fear while Ben is out is that we think we have some sort of power run game intact.The truth is we haven’t been able to run effectively up the gut for years, and not without trying.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.