Opinion · NFL
Pittsburgh Fixed Its Line in a Week. Cleveland Is Where We Find Out.
Thursday night in Cleveland will be decided up front. Not by Aaron Rodgers against a banged-up secondary, and not by Deshaun Watson’s legs, but by two offensive lines that have spent September in very different places.
Pittsburgh’s was a problem. Through two games, Rodgers was sacked six times, the line allowed 28 pressures, 15 of them in Week 2 alone, the run game averaged 3.4 yards per carry, and the offense scored a league-worst 11.5 points per game, according to The Sporting News. So the Steelers did something teams rarely do three weeks into a season. They rebuilt the right side, moving veteran Brock Hoffman in at right guard and starting rookie Max Iheanachor at right tackle.
It worked, at least once. Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati 30-27, and Jaylen Warren ran for 127 yards, the Associated Press reported. Pro Football Focus gave Iheanachor a 91.4 run-blocking grade in his debut and charged him with just two pressures. Hoffman allowed none on 40 pass-blocking snaps. PFF now ranks the Steelers’ line 11th.
I think the change is real. But Cincinnati was the easy exam.
Cleveland’s front is the test
Cleveland brings one of the league’s most disruptive pass rushes. Rookie defensive tackle Mason Graham already has four sacks, and edge rusher Jared Verse had six pressures against Carolina, Sports Illustrated noted. That interior push goes straight at the spot Pittsburgh just changed.
A rookie tackle and a newly promoted guard, on the road, on a short week, is exactly where a good debut gets exposed. History doesn’t help either. The Steelers have won just one of their last eight games in Cleveland since 2018, per Yardbarker.
Cleveland’s own line is the bigger worry
Here is why I still lean toward Pittsburgh in the trenches: the Browns’ offensive line has been a bigger liability than anything the Steelers have shown.
Cleveland rebuilt the unit with five new starters this offseason, and it shows. PFF ranks it 29th. Rookie left tackle Spencer Fano allowed six pressures on 44 pass-blocking snaps against Carolina, and right guard Austin Barber graded below 45 in pass protection. Right tackle Tytus Howard has allowed 17 pressures, tied for the most at his position, according to the AP, and he was flagged for three false starts in Week 3.
Now line that group up against T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith and Cam Heyward. Watt has 3.5 sacks, Highsmith has three, and Pittsburgh has eight as a team. Watt has 17.5 sacks in 15 career games against Cleveland. Watson is 0-3 against Pittsburgh and has been sacked 18 times in those games.
I wrote earlier this week that Watson is moving better. His line keeps making him prove it.
The case against me
The fairest objection is that one good game is one good game. Hoffman and Iheanachor have started together once. If Graham wins inside early, Pittsburgh’s September problems could come right back, and a rookie tackle’s first road start in a hostile building is a different assignment from his first home game.
Cleveland also arrives with momentum. The Browns have won two straight, and Watson has four touchdown passes and no interceptions in those games, the AP noted. A line that protects well enough for a quarterback who is finally avoiding mistakes can be good enough.
My call
Both teams are 2-1. Pittsburgh’s line has earned a little trust. Cleveland’s hasn’t yet.
If the Steelers’ right side survives the first quarter, I expect Watt and Highsmith to decide the rest. If it doesn’t, this becomes another Pittsburgh loss in Cleveland, and the Week 3 fix will look like it was about Cincinnati all along.
That is a prediction, not a certainty. Thursday night will tell us which line was the real story.