It was a pretty terrible performance on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday night for the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line. Overall, the Steelers rushed for just 14 yards on 10 carries and kept quarterbacks Mitch Trubisky, Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph under pressure all night.
Though the Steelers came back to win thanks to a go-ahead touchdown drive from Rudolph in the two-minute practice, the offensive line remains a major concern under Pat Meyer, the offensive line coach in its first year. Guys like free-agent signee James Daniels, left tackle Dan Moore Jr. and left guard Kendrick Green are three guys who continued to fight at an alarming rate and had quite the feat to forget about Saturday night on the streets.
I don’t see Arden Key as a power rusher at all, but he gave #Steeler LG Kendrick Green fits in on Saturday. Thrown into the lap of Mitch Trubisky. Decent attempt to anchor mid-rep, but just not strong enough. pic.twitter.com/upLytxRkHo
— Josh Carney (@ByJoshCarney) August 22, 2022
Green, who played well into the fourth quarter while rotating at the position with guard Kevin Dotson, spoke to the media Monday before practice from the locker room on the south side of UPMC’s Rooney Sports Complex and announced that head coach Mike Tomlin Having done this offensive lineup on the big screen during Monday’s team film session, publicly criticized the unit’s poor play, including Green specifically, according to video captured by 93.7 The Fan’s Josh Rowntree from inside the locker room.
“Coach T [Tomlin] often had us and myself on the board during the team meeting in particular,” Green told reporters Monday, according to Rowntree video. “It doesn’t feel good at all.”
No, it probably doesn’t feel good to be highlighted negatively in a team environment, especially after a downright terrible performance from start to finish. Heading into the preseason matchup with the Jaguars, Green’s overall availability gave him a chance to really go some distance from Dotson in contention for the starting left tackle job, but similar to how he played in his rookie season, Green struggled from the beginning of the game and never quite got under it.
The transition to the new orienteering trainer Pat Meyer remains in progress. There are many moving parts in the trenches, some new techniques and some additional calls and ways to handle blitzes, stunts, twists and more. But so far the work in progress has looked very, very rough.
Hopefully Green gives the team the fuel they need in a negative way in front of the team to start a fire and change things quickly ahead of time. From here there’s only one way for Green and the rest of the offensive line to go, and that’s up.
The way Tomlin has dealt with criticism of the offensive line — and Green in particular — comes as no surprise at all. It will be exceptionally transparent and will tell you what it is like whether you want to hear it or not. He’ll be open and honest — sometimes brutally honest — which has helped him maintain credibility and control of the dressing room every year in the Steel City.
Green had to experience that firsthand.
“He doesn’t swear at you,” Green added, according to Rowntree for 93.7 The Fan. “He says it’s you. You captured that on film. And it’s fair. The natural response, the comfortable position, is that you want to come into the fetal position. Like, ‘ah, don’t look at me.’ But you have to own it. you filmed it It’s more than the people in our room looking at it. There are also 31 other teams watching. They will try to achieve the same.”
Credit to Green for not running away from the harsh criticism internally and revealing it to the media. He knows he played very poorly on Saturday and needs to improve fast, not just for his time with the Steelers but for his NFL future in general. What he’s filmed so far doesn’t quite portray an NFL lineman. The good news is that he has some time to put things together and improve them. The ship has not yet fully left port for selection for the 2021 third round.