The Steelers had one of the best offensive line units of the 2010s. Here’s why we shouldn’t be so quick to discredit their importance to the team.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have always been a team that prides themselves on their physicality up front and their ability to win in the trenches. Pittsburgh has gone from one elite offensive lineman to the next from Mike Webster to Dermontti Dawson to Alan Faneca to Maurkice Pouncey and David DeCastro. In fact, there has only been a four-year gap since 1974 when Pittsburgh didn’t have one of these All-Pro offensive linemen on their roster.
Sadly, a once-dominant unit we have come to love fell well short of meeting expectations over the past few seasons. Last year, Pittsburgh ranked dead last in rushing yards and they created very few holes on the ground. In the passing game, Ben Roethlisberger was forced to get the ball out of his hands quickly, as the o-line struggled to hold up.
Despite their struggles in recent years, I’m disappointed that so many Steelers fans quickly forgot how important this unit was in the 2010s. I would go as far as to argue that this offensive line never got the credit it deserved.
Why Steelers previous OL group deserved more credit
There have been more than five players that made up this unit during their dominant stretch in the 2010s, and you probably already have a visual in your head of the players I am referring to.
Obviously, the recently departed David DeCastro and Maurkice Pouncey have been two cornerstone NFL offensive linemen over the past decade of football, and their impact was routinely felt on the Steelers. In addition, Ramon Foster was a steady piece of this unit for the better part of a decade.
The offensive tackle position wasn’t quite as consistent for the Steelers, but they still found a way to have one of the better pairings in the league for a while. Pittsburgh went from Kelvin Beachum to Alejandro Villanueva at left tackle – the former became a two-time Pro Bowler. At right tackle, Marcus Gilbert was a consistent player for many years when healthy before Matt Feiler ultimately took over.
From 2014-2017, this unit consistently graded out as one of the best offensive lines in the league, according to Football Outsiders. It’s no surprise that some of the best offensive seasons and greatest single-season performances in franchise history came during this time.
The players who consistently touch the ball receive a bulk of the credit, but where would Le’Veon Bell be without one of the league’s best offensive lines? After his age 25 season in 2017, Bell sat out the following year before joining the New York Jets where he averaged a dismal 3.2 yards per carry in 2019. He was cut just two games into his second season with the Jets.
In the same way, we give Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown an immense amount of credit for their performance from 2014 to 2017 – and rightfully so. However, it’s important to remember the big guys up front that made this possible. They gave Ben the time he needed to survey the field and en route to the best passing performances of his career.
So many fans are too quick to disregard this once-dominant offensive line of the past decade – thinking that this new group will somehow be better. Though Pittsburgh’s 2021 offensive line could prove to be better than the aged unit we saw last season, we can’t forget the importance of this group for nearly a decade. They deserve more credit than what they’ve gotten over the years.