For the Steelers' run game to improve this year, it's got to be more physical. Not just with the offensive line, but with the tight ends, receivers and running backs. It's what Adrian Klemm has been preaching to Kevin Dotson and the offensive line since OTAs.
But with Zach Banner recovering from his ACL injury, Dotson and Chukwuma Okorafor getting injured at the start of training camp, and Kendrick Green having a couple personal days, the presumptive starting line, complete with Trai Turner, hadn't had much time working together before the Saturday preseason game against the Lions at Heinz Field.
Offensive lines might be football's position group that most relies on experience, chemistry, timing and knowing each other. If one player steps with his correct foot in the right direction for a run play, but does so at the wrong time, that lack of timing can blow up an entire run concept.
It takes time for units like that to gel, even ones featuring high pedigree players picked high in their drafts like Maurkice Pouncey and David DeCastro. The Steelers' offensive line that came to be a dominant group for most of the 2010s took years to form, and even had a year, 2013, where DeCastro missed on an attempted cut block that injured Pouncey for an entire season.
For an offensive line to play synchronized football, they need to go through battles together, learn together, and grow together. Even if some of those linemen aren't dominant forces, they can feed of the better linemen in a group by having their timing down and the group knowing when and where to compensate for those weaknesses.
That's not something that even Mike Munchak could instill in an offensive line without them having experience together on their own. So for the projected starting unit's first run against the Lions, being cohesive wasn't realistic.
What could be expected was for the group to come out and play the intense, physical style of play Klemm had been preaching to his players for months. That bar was met and exceeded by the line against the Lions, as Mike Tomlin said after the game.
"They really finished," Tomlin said of his offensive line's performance Saturday. "It seemed like our piles were falling in the directions we desired for them to fall. Guys were finishing with great effort. You saw (Rashad Coward) downfield really finishing blocks you saw (Green) on several occasions really finish guys. Hopefully that's a catalyst for us as we move forward."
Here's the first run play the team called when Najee Harris picked up 8 yards. You can see Turner, Dotson and Banner all pushing their guys several yards downfield, moving the pile to give Harris space to succeed:
That's the kind of finishing Tomlin's talking about.
But as the stat sheet showed, that kind of dominance didn't go on display throughout the game. Harris finished with 10 yards on four carries. On those four runs, you had two good plays for solid gains and two plays where Harris was hit in the backfield for a tackle for loss.
"We had technical problems," Green said after Tuesday's practice at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. "But effort wasn't a problem Coach had to correct. We can start with that, but we're definitely not satisfied at all. We're out here to sharpen the axe every day."
That's the thing about the mistakes this offensive line showed. On both those run plays where Harris was hit in the backfield, the failures had nothing to do with being physically incapable or not being willing enough to do their jobs, just simple miscues that happen when lines are still gelling together.
Here's one of those tackles for loss when Green and Dotson were supposed to double-team their defensive tackle in the hole and have Dotson chip to the second level, but Green accelerated to the second level before any chip or double-team could be put in place. That led to Dotson not realizing he didn't have help and letting his man free to ruin the play:
Like Green said, that's very fixable.
Green also just might've been excited to get to that second level and hit a linebacker because that's when he's at his best. Watch how he chipped off a double-team with Turner in the hole and then got to the linebacker to flatten him with a solid pancake. It was a key factor in opening up the hole for Harris:
You could also see Eric Ebron stick his nose into the play and make a solid block.
That's why I didn't title this Classroom "Steelers' offensive line plenty physical ..." because the run blocking is about more than just the linemen. It takes the receivers, tight ends, full backs and any offensive player who can contribute to a play to play the physical style of football the Steelers want to exhibit.
Ebron displayed solid effort on blocks throughout the night, as did Pat Freiermuth, but as you saw with Green, sometimes effort isn't enough when you miss your assignment.
Here's the other run play where Harris was hit in the backfield, also because of a miscue. Turner and Freiermuth are supposed to both pull down the left side of the offense and pick up two defenders left free on that edge while the line leaves the right edge defender alone, expecting Harris to follow both lead blockers before he can make a play.
But after Turner hit his man, Freiermuth ran into the back of Turner, apparently thinking Turner's man was the player he was supposed to block. That left Harris with two edge defenders running freely into the backfield, bottling him up before he could even get going:
Again, one mental error and the whole play can fall apart.
But as Green said, those are very fixable errors. If Freiermuth gets to the second-edge defender in a future rep, maybe Harris springs this concept for a big gain. That's why the lack of run production Saturday wasn't alarming, as the failures were teachable moments that weren't about any player's limitations.
But as I said with Ebron and Freiermuth, physicality doesn't just belong to the offensive line as a requirement for this run game to succeed. The Steelers have three willingly physical wide receivers who can effectively contribute as run blockers in JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chase Claypool and James Washington.
Watch this solid gain by Kalen Ballage and you can see how they helped. Green and Okorafor get into stalemates with their assignments, not moving the pile but holding up their defenders. The plays in the blocking are made by Smith-Schuster cracking down with a big hit on a linebacker and Washington effectively sealing his cornerback away from Ballage:
Willing, physical and effective.
The Steelers' offense appears to have that part down in its run game. Now it just needs to clean up the roles and responsibilities of its players so they can avoid mishaps like the ones in the Lions game. While some of the starters might not play Friday against the Panthers in the Steelers' preseason finale, expect to see more of these players getting their chance to continue building as a group and learn from their mistakes as they get ready for the season opener.