The Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line had arguably their worst performance of the season on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium. Despite that, the team was able to sneak out with an upset victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Before this week, the offensive line held their own in the first five games of the season. After a difficult preseason, many thought that the offensive line would be the main weakness of the Steelers.
Credit: Jordan Schofield/SteelerNation (JSKO_PHOTO Twitter)
Perhaps no one struggled more than starting left guard, Kevin Dotson. Dotson picked up a few costly penalties, as the OL accounted for a majority of the team's seven penalties in Week 6. After the game, the young offensive lineman tweeted out that he was receiving death threats after his underachieving performance:
Getting death threats for some penalties is crazy 😂😂 for a game that has no bearing on your life .YOUR A FAN not a owner and you don’t even put any work to feel any type of way about it🤣 #HereWeGo
— 🌚 6’4 Nightskin🕺🏿😈 (@kdd7696) October 16, 2022
Dotson now has six penalties in six games this season, three of which have been for holding and two for false start. The third-year guard had five in nine games last season, as well as just three total in 2020. This week certainly overexaggerates those numbers a bit, but it's something to watch moving forward in 2022. Fortunately for him, Kendrick Green is the backup left guard. Dotson would have to struggle immensely in order for the team to move to Green.
Credit: Jordan Schofield/SteelerNation (JSKO_PHOTO Twitter)
Green is in his second season after starting 15 games at center as a rookie. The team showed that it has virtually no confidence in him, moving him to guard in the off-season. After a training camp-long battle for the left guard position, Dotson was named the starter. In fact, Green's roster spot was far from guaranteed. The sophomore has been a regular inactive on gameday this season.
It's always unfortunate when you get people like this. No matter how bad a performance may be, no player, or person for that matter, ever deserves to receive death threats. Unfortunately, seemingly every fan base has a small group of people like that.
Are you concerned about the OL moving forward? Do you think this weekend's performance was just a blip in the radar? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!
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