With starting OG Isaac Seumalo ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Spencer Anderson will slot in as the starting left guard. This week will be Anderson’s first start of the season but he’s no stranger to the starting lineup with four career starts in Pittsburgh. He has also been used this season as an extra offensive lineman in the “jumbo” package to keep defenses off balance.
The obvious question that Anderson’s elevation to starter brings to mind is what will happen to the jumbo package that Pittsburgh has employed this season to fortify its run game.
Beat reporter Mark Kaboly offered some informed speculation that the jumbo package might not necessarily be abandoned with Anderson starting this week.
“I’m not quite sure if they’re even really want to run the jumbo this week or not as much. I’m not quite sure. It’s hard to set tell when key components don’t practice,” Kaboly said via Kaboly and Mack. “I asked Anderson the other day, is he going to flip to the jumbo tackle from the guard. He says it’s not that big of a deal for anybody to jump out there at all. So, he made it sound like he might jump out there. I can tell you they haven’t really shown anything [regarding] what their plans are with that. So I don’t know if it would be Andrus Peat come in at guard and flip Anderson to jumbo if they’d be willing to make that type of change.”
It would certainly be unconventional to have a starting offensive guard split out to play a different position on certain packages. Anderson has been the perfect fit for the role. His athleticism and blocking ability suit the tackle-eligible role well, so it would make sense for Pittsburgh to want that to continue.
Kaboly mentioned that veteran Andrus Peat might fill in at guard when and if Anderson is used in jumbo formation. Peat is a veteran in his eleventh NFL season and has experience playing both guard and tackle but has been inactive in each of Pittsburgh’s games this season. With Seumalo ruled out, Peat figures to get a hat in week 10 against the Chargers.
That Anderson spoke with Kaboly about the subject and deemed it “no big deal” for any player to jump out of the starting lineup to be utilized as an end-of-the line blocker in jumbo packages suggests that it’s very plausible we could see it happen for him this week. Anderson is somewhat of a Swiss army knife for the offensive line. He’s a player that, at least theoretically, can play all five offensive line positions, though he has mostly been used as a guard in recent seasons. That flexibility, though, might come in handy if he’s tasked with playing multiple positions in the same game.
The Steelers may have found something with their utilization of the jumbo package this season. Having TE Darnell Washington, who has the size and blocking prowess of many offensive linemen, out there with six actual offensive linemen has led to success in the ground game. Many teams use the package but it would be difficult to find anyone else using it more effectively than Pittsburgh this season. They may not want to take Anderson out and disrupt the flow of the offense.
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