Steelers' Mike McCarthy Faces Harsh Blame As Preseason Gamble Comes Back To Haunt Him

The Pittsburgh Steelers spent August treating their offensive line like a puzzle worth examining from every angle. Players moved, competitions stayed alive and the coaching staff used the preseason to learn how many combinations it could trust. Two regular-season games later, that patience looks considerably more concerning. Pittsburgh has allowed its offense to become trapped behind protection breakdowns, lost blocks and communication failures, and one longtime Steelers reporter believes some of the damage traces directly back to decisions made before Week 1 ever arrived.

Mark Kaboly believes responsibility for Pittsburgh's offensive-line collapse stretches from Head Coach Mike McCarthy and Offensive Line Coach James Campen all the way down to the players themselves. His strongest criticism, however, focused on McCarthy's handling of the unit during the preseason and whether Pittsburgh waited too long to prioritize cohesion over evaluation.

During an appearance on 93.7 The Fan, Kaboly argued that the Steelers are now paying for spending too much time figuring out where everyone fit instead of giving their eventual starting five enough uninterrupted work together.

“I don’t know if anybody is free and clear from it to be honest with you. From McCarthy to offensive line coach Campen, to the players themselves. It just seems like it’s a critical failure along the whole offensive line. Communication-wise was awful yesterday… It’s not only communication issues. It’s physicality, too. They’re getting pushed around… I think you have to blame McCarthy, too, for just waiting too long to get the group together and make a call on this. I think he was more worried in the preseason… about seeing where people fit in rather than who his five starters were. And I think it’s coming back to haunt him a little bit right now,” Kaboly said.

Sunday gave that criticism plenty of oxygen. Aaron Rodgers was sacked four times in Pittsburgh's 20-3 loss to the New England Patriots, while the offense managed only one play of at least 20 yards. New England consistently crowded the protection, attacked confused assignments and made the Steelers look much less settled up front than a team two weeks into the regular season should.

The communication failures were damaging enough. Kaboly's point about physicality makes the evaluation even harsher.

A missed protection can occasionally be explained by two linemen seeing a stunt differently or failing to pass off pressure correctly. Getting driven backward requires a less complicated diagnosis. Pittsburgh wanted its offensive front to become a strength this season, yet the Patriots routinely disrupted the line of scrimmage before the offense could establish any rhythm.

Campen arrived with a substantial résumé and decades of NFL offensive-line experience, including 15 seasons in Green Bay. His history with McCarthy was supposed to provide Pittsburgh with a coaching pairing that understood exactly how the offensive front should function inside this system. Instead, two games have produced more troubleshooting than continuity.

The preseason context is where Kaboly's argument becomes more interesting than simply blaming poor blocking. Pittsburgh entered camp with competitions and position changes throughout the front. The first-team group was visible relatively early, but the staff continued experimenting with combinations and preparing players for multiple roles. Even shortly before the opener, Campen was discussing how important game-week practice would be for the reconfigured line to finally build cohesion.

Versatility has value over a 17-game season. Offensive lines rarely survive untouched, and Pittsburgh had legitimate reasons to find out who could move where when injuries arrived. The tradeoff is that cohesion cannot be downloaded overnight.

An offensive tackle needs to anticipate how the guard beside him will react to movement. The center has to know when help is coming and when he has been left alone. Passing off twists and blitzes requires five players to communicate almost instinctively, because pausing to discuss the issue after the snap usually ends with a quarterback meeting a defender.

Pittsburgh's offensive-line warning signs are no longer theoretical. The Patriots repeatedly reached Rodgers, disrupted the ground game and forced McCarthy's offense into the type of obvious passing situations that make protection even harder.

That does not absolve the players. Kaboly specifically included them in the failure, and he should. Coaching cannot move a defender after the ball is snapped. Communication cannot rescue every rep when an individual blocker loses physically. Pittsburgh has enough young talent and investment along the front that simply blaming August would be too convenient. The question is whether August made September unnecessarily difficult.

Steelers Need McCarthy's Preseason Gamble To Start Paying Off

McCarthy cannot rewind training camp and redistribute the repetitions now. Campen cannot give his starters an extra month together before Pittsburgh's next game. The only useful response is making the current group function quickly enough that Kaboly's criticism stops looking prophetic.

That may require simplifying protection calls, reducing movement or leaning harder into the concepts the line handles most comfortably. It could also require personnel changes if one particular matchup continues becoming an obvious target. What Pittsburgh cannot afford is another afternoon where every pressure seems to expose a different breakdown.

McCarthy has already accepted responsibility for the offense's lack of detail, and his own postgame comments made clear he believes coaching has to improve. Kaboly is pushing the criticism one step further. He believes part of the current mess may have been created by how the coaching staff approached the preseason in the first place.

Pittsburgh wanted to know which linemen could handle multiple jobs. That information may become useful later. Right now, the Steelers need five players who can handle the same job together.

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