Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger Calls Out Embarrassing Failure That Is Wrecking Pittsburgh's Offense

The Pittsburgh Steelers can explain away some early offensive ugliness with new personnel, a new system and September timing that still needs sharpening. There are only so many times those excuses can be recycled before the film starts arguing back. After Pittsburgh scored three points in Foxborough and spent another afternoon fighting for basic offensive competence, one franchise legend looked at the group that should have entered the season furthest along and reached a much less forgiving conclusion.

Ben Roethlisberger cannot understand how Pittsburgh's offensive line has produced this level of football after receiving live preseason work that many of the offense's established veterans did not. Four sacks allowed and 91 rushing yards against the New England Patriots were enough for the former Steelers quarterback to question what all those August repetitions actually accomplished.

During a recent episode of Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger, Roethlisberger reduced his frustration to three numbers and one fairly obvious question.

“Four sacks, 91 yards rushing. What are we doing? Like, that’s the only group also, by the way, that played in the preseason,” Roethlisberger said.

The box score makes his irritation understandable. Aaron Rodgers was sacked four times, fumbled twice and spent much of Pittsburgh's 20-3 loss dealing with a Patriots pressure plan that the Steelers openly admitted they expected. New England blitzed Rodgers on 39% of his dropbacks, and Pittsburgh generated only 43 passing yards on those plays.

The rushing number requires slightly more context, but not enough to rescue the performance. Pittsburgh's 91 yards were an improvement over the 58 officially recorded against Atlanta in Week 1. Improvement is a low bar when an offense averages 3.5 yards per play and never reaches the end zone. The Steelers still could not lean on the ground game long enough to protect Rodgers from obvious passing situations or make New England reconsider how aggressively it attacked them.

Roethlisberger's preseason point is where the criticism becomes more uncomfortable.

Pittsburgh's starting offensive line received live work together in August. The group appeared in the preseason opener against Green Bay, and Steelers.com noted before the finale that the starting five had accumulated a “smattering of reps as a group” through the first two exhibitions. Rodgers, meanwhile, sat out the preseason opener, and Pittsburgh carefully managed several established offensive players throughout August.

Those snaps were supposed to help solve exactly what Pittsburgh is struggling with now. Offensive-line cohesion is built through seeing twists together, passing off blitzers without hesitation and developing an instinct for how the blocker beside you reacts when a defensive front changes after the snap. The Steelers did not need August football to prove their linemen could recognize one another. They needed it to make communication automatic by September.

That has not happened.

Head Coach Mike McCarthy acknowledged after the Patriots loss that Pittsburgh's protections were not clean despite spending significant practice time preparing for New England's pressure looks. The ugly part was not being surprised by some exotic plan. The Steelers expected pressure, practiced against pressure and still repeatedly failed to handle it.

That distinction gives Roethlisberger's criticism more bite. Preseason repetitions are valuable only if they eventually become regular-season answers. Pittsburgh cannot point to a young line needing time every Sunday when the same group was specifically given summer opportunities to accelerate that process.

Offensive Line Coach James Campen deserves scrutiny alongside McCarthy. Pittsburgh hired Campen with decades of experience and a long history working with McCarthy in Green Bay. Technique, communication and physical consistency fall directly within his room, and all three have looked uneven through two games.

There are individual problems as well. No protection scheme can prevent every sack when a blocker simply loses his matchup, and no amount of chemistry creates rushing lanes if Pittsburgh is getting moved backward at the point of attack. Roethlisberger's “What are we doing?” works because there has not been one convenient explanation. Physical losses and mental errors have managed to coexist.

The players themselves already know something has to change. Pittsburgh has invested too much draft capital and development time in the line for another season to become an exercise in protecting the offense from its own protection.

Steelers Have Run Out Of Easy Excuses Up Front

Two regular-season games are not enough to determine what this offensive line will become. They are enough to question why a group that actually received preseason repetitions looks this disjointed once the games matter.

That is the larger consequence of Roethlisberger's criticism. If Pittsburgh's protection struggles were merely the product of rust, August should have removed some of it. If the run game needed cohesion, those shared snaps were supposed to help build it. Instead, the line has opened the season looking like one of the least settled parts of McCarthy's offense.

There are possible changes available. Pittsburgh used a first-round pick on Max Iheanachor, and McCarthy has already left the door open to expanding his role at right tackle. Other depth options could force their way into consideration if the current five do not stabilize.

Changing names will not automatically fix the larger issue. Whoever plays has to communicate better, create movement and stop turning pressure looks Pittsburgh expects into free shots on a 42-year-old quarterback.

Roethlisberger spent 18 seasons understanding exactly what an offensive line means to everything that happens behind it. He does not appear interested in hearing that this group simply needs more time together.

Pittsburgh already gave it some. That is why four sacks and 91 rushing yards produced a much harder question from Roethlisberger than another request for patience.

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