If Super Bowl LV taught us anything, it's the importance of having a good set of offensive & defensive linemen. No matter how good a single player on your team is, he has to have support from the "big uglies" (offensive & defensive linemen) in order to be successful. Obviously, we know Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes has talent, but it just goes to show that building a winning formula is more than just having playmakers on the outside making the flashy plays. Winning organizations seem to build their football teams by solidifying their linemen first, then finding playmakers to surround them with after the fact.
We saw how this effected both the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Chiefs themselves during this past Sunday's performance. Obviously, the Buccaneers pulled away with a victory, but the way in which they won was not the way that most saw it playing out. It was clear, the Bucs defensive line was way too much for Kansas City to handle. They applied pressure all night, not allowing Mahomes to feel comfortable in the pocket, forcing him to bootleg out, dragging the play out longer than needed. The pressure from the front four was constant, wreaking havoc throughout the ball game, giving Tampa Bay the advantage throughout.
I think many expected this overpowered Kansas City offense to take over the game under Mahomes' wing, forcing Tom Brady and the Bucs hands, putting them into a situation where they would have to "catch up" to Mahomes and the Chiefs throughout the night. Instead, the opposite was the case and the team that had the better linemen came out victorious. They established their dominance early on, gained confidence and never looked back. They set the tone for the whole team up front.
That type of dominance is one that the Pittsburgh Steelers will look to balance out during the 2021 season. We seem to have things figured out on the defensive side of the ball as applying pressure has been something that our front four have been extremely successful at the past couple of seasons. That provides support for the secondary, allowing them to improve season by season. Cam Heyward, Stephon Tuitt and Tyson Alualu were solid to say the least in 2020, and with all three coming back for the 2021 campaign, it's easy to say the dominance is going to continue on the defensive side of the ball. Our defensive front four is our anchor and look for them to continue to be in 2021.
The offensive side of the football looked a little different during this 2020 season. While we were all able to have our future Hall of Fame QB Ben Roethlisberger under center once again, things were not exactly the same as years prior. Our offense as a whole is full of playmakers, that can't be denied, but what was different about this season was that those guys were the anchor for us on the offensive side of the ball in 2020. In years prior, the offensive line had been the group of men that were setting the tone for the rest of the offense. You would hear Ben saying things like "We run through you guys" in reference to the offense in years past. The offensive line, which has been led by center Maurkice Pouncey for a little longer than a decade, was known as one of the best groups in the NFL under coach Mike Munchak prior to the 2020 season starting. For those of us who watch Steeler football, it was obvious this year that Munchak's presence was missed given that Pittsburgh's offensive line clearly was missing a beat and forced this offense to be one dimensional more times than not. Again, our protection was not horrible, but it fell quite short of reaching SteelerNation's expectations.
Hopes are high going into the 2021 campaign for both the offensive and defensive groups. New offensive line coach Adrian Klemm will try and recreate the impact they had on this team years ago, with a few possible new faces. We seem to have our guard positions locked up with David DeCastro and Kevin Dotson. The questions that arise stem from the center and the tackle positions. Obviously, we are still waiting on definite news regarding Pouncey, which either way can change the outcome of how this off-season goes. Zach Banner will look to hopefully gain the starting RT role back after an injury in 2020 derailed his season. That being said, there is an option to move Chukwuma Okorafor to the left side to pair with Banner. Either that, or Pittsburgh could look to add linemen through free agency or the draft where many viable options are available. These next couple of months during the off-season will tell us a lot about the direction this team is going in 2021. One thing that remains clear in my head, is that both the offensive & defensive line need to be the anchor for this team to be successful.
#SteelerNation
