With an aging quarterback behind them, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive line was always going to be the most essential part of the offense. Unfortunately, they didn’t get off to the best start. They allowed four sacks in Week 1, and the trend of Aaron Rodgers being hit too often ran over the course of the first few games.
In Week 4 against the Minnesota Vikings, they looked much better. Spencer Anderson, a player whose role the Steelers seem to be looking to expand, was a part of that effort. On Wednesday, he was asked if he felt the unit gained confidence from that performance.
“Absolutely, yeah, we were having fun out there,” Anderson said Wednesday via Steelers.com. “Just getting back to, you know, playing our brand of ball. We had a couple of successful runs the past few weeks, two weeks ago, whatever it was. I feel like we kind of took off from that game… Just being ourselves, not trying to do too much.”
Anderson seems to refer to the Steelers’ narrow win over the Patriots in Week 3. That was the start of some marked improvement from the unit. In the first two games of the year, they allowed Aaron Rodgers to be sacked seven times. That included Broderick Jones allowing three sacks in the season opener. However, they allowed none in Week 3 and just two to Minnesota.
Running the ball, you could tell the seeds were starting to grow in Week 3. It still didn’t look great on paper, but Jaylen Warren was able to burst off some longer runs for the first time. Even with him out of the lineup in Dublin, Pittsburgh still looked much better in that department against Minnesota. Kenneth Gainwell picked up 99-yards on the ground, and the Steelers rushed for 131 as a team. It was anchored on easily the best all-around performance from the line.
However, repeating that success against a staunch Browns defense will be tough. Cleveland has an argument for being the best defense in the league. In many ways, they are what the Steelers hoped their defense would look like to open the season. They’ve been the best in the league against the run, allowing just 75.6 yards per game. Against the pass, they’re tied for the fourth fewest yards allowed at 172.2.
Obviously, that’s a tough matchup for a Steelers’ offensive line that has only one great game under its belt. But it’s important that the unit starts building off that success before the schedule gets more difficult. According to Anderson, they believe they can do so.
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