3 things we learned from Pittsburgh Steelers loss against the Raiders

The Steelers OL is not doing Ben Roethlisberger any favors

No disrespect intended to any offensive lineman, but I don’t think the offensive line as it is currently constructed is not doing Ben Roethlisberger any favors. According to ESPN, ‘Big Ben’ was sacked twice, losing a total of three yards.  That, in and of itself, is pretty good; however, our franchise and future Hall of Fame QB was under constant duress on almost every pass play.

Look, I realize that we are working with an essentially new offensive line, but you cannot win in the NFL if you don’t have time to allow passing plays to develop, particularly if you’re trying to mount a comeback.  The other aspect of the offense that struggled again was the running game.

The Steelers offense managed a paltry thirty-nine yards on fourteen rush attempts.  Granted, we were playing from behind so there probably wasn’t a whole lot of opportunity to run the ball, but the inability to run the ball with any consistency and with any effectiveness early in the game directly affected our ability to run the ball later in the game.

This trend has to stop and has to stop post-haste if we are to have any chance of playing meaningful football in January. I don’t think it’s a controversial statement when I say that the offensive line has to play better in order for the running game to be better.  If the running game is better, the passing game will be better.

Let’s see what we learned on the defensive side of the ball.