Coming into the season, the Steelers' offensive line figured to be a work in progress with four brand new starters, including a pair of rookies, in the lineup.
But through the first three games, that line has struggled to find any kind of footing as a group, leading to the team's 1-2 start heading into Sunday's game at Green Bay against the Packers (2-1).
It comes as something of a surprise to first-year offensive coordinator Matt Canada.
"I didn’t," Canada replied when I asked him if there was an expectation of major growing pains. "I’m a (glass) half-full guy. I thought we were going to be great the whole time. We’re not happy with where we are.
"You can look at what you want. It hasn’t been what we’ve wanted. It has to be better. And there’s a sense of urgency to get better."
According to former Steelers running back and ESPN NFL analyst, Merril Hoge, the issues stem from two things, the line's cohesion and mechanics. The Steelers scrapped many of the complicated zone blocking schemes they were trying to implement to cut down on mistakes. And even that didn't work.
"When you watch them up front, there are a couple of things that are consistent. They got away with it in Week 1 (at Buffalo). They did it last week, which has got to be frustrating," Hoge said on his weekly hit on WDVE. "They went back to a lot of man blocking schemes. Their pad level is so high that they get no movement. They’re blocking with their chest and they’re doing a dance at the line of scrimmage. You can’t run the ball like that. Even when you’ve got two guys on one, they get no movement. And then they don’t come off and block another guy.
"And then about 30 percent of the time, they miss an assignment, so they have somebody unaccounted for. Those things can be corrected. But until that job gets done, your quarterback is irrelevant. Your wide receivers are irrelevant. Your running backs are irrelevant."
Hoge still watches and breaks down tape of every team in the league each week. And he said that right now, only two offensive lines, those of the Jaguars and Jets, are playing worse as a group than that of the Steelers.
Many are placing blame on Ben Roethlisberger, but Hoge doesn't believe that's necessarily fair. In fact, he doesn't feel criticism of any of the skill position players is fair at this point until the line gets its act together.
"When you look at the passing game, you can tell they’re just a shade off in some areas, especially the vertical passing game," Hoge said. "Sometimes it’s the wide receiver running the wrong route, Ben might overthrow them a little bit or under throw them. But I’m telling you, when you don’t trust anything, when you walk to the line of scrimmage and you’re not sure the guys up front are going to get their job done, that plays into everything, whether it’s run or pass.
"You throw a rookie back there, I guarantee you that you’re 0-3. And the score is probably worse than (they have been). He’s kept you in some games and made some throws. ... They’re all struggling. There’s not a guy out there who is rock solid."
It's made for tough sledding for the offense all around. The Steelers haven't scored a point in the first quarter this season, and they have just 14 first-half points.
And first-round draft pick Najee Harris has gained 123 rushing yards and is averaging 3.1 yards per carry through three games as the Steelers are last in the NFL at 53 yards per game.
Hoge doesn't put any of the blame on Harris.
"That guy is playing his absolute tail off," Hoge said. "I’ve been in that position. To walk into the huddle and you have no idea if anybody is going to be blocked, or if there’s going to be movement at the point of attack, that’s disheartening. That’s hard to play like that."
Canada might not say so publicly, but internally the Steelers are in agreement. That's why they haven't made any rash changes with players. That's why they went back to using a straight forward man-blocking scheme.
They're trying to help this line work through these issues because they know there aren't a lot of options available to change it in regard to personnel.
They'll get right tackle Zach Banner back soon. He's on the Reserve/Injured list while recovering from a torn ACL, but began practicing Wednesday, starting his three-week window to be activated -- but outside of that move. That would at least give them the option to move veteran Chuks Okorafor, their only returning starter, back to tackle, which is what was planned for this line from the beginning, in place of rookie fourth-round draft pick Dan Moore.
Outside of that, or inserting center J.C. Hassenauer or guard B.J. Finney -- and they had all of training camp and the preseason to determine those two weren't the answer -- what they've got is what they've got.
They've just got to get them better -- quickly.
"We’re going to stick with what we’re doing. It’s not the sexy answer, but we believe we’re on the right track," Canada said. "We’ve got to have cohesion up front. We’re working to get that. It’s not an excuse. We’ve got to produce right now. We’re not running and hiding from that. We’ve got to put our guys in position to make plays. We’re not going to try to reinvent the wheel. It’s fundamental football."
The good news is that Hoge sees it all as fixable. The Steelers might not have a top-10 or even top-15 line at any point of this season, but if they clean up the issues, they can be closer to the middle of the pack than they are to the bottom. And that will allow their skill position players to shine.
"Until that gets corrected, it’s going to be a long season. You can’t win on a consistent basis," Hoge said.
"That can be corrected. Your pad level can be corrected. Knowing who to block can be corrected."