In the Steelers' win over Denver, Broderick Jones had a horrible performance, with three penalties on one drive. After that, Mike Tomlin promptly benched him. He undoubtedly got an earful from Tomlin on the Tuesday following the Denver game.
Whatever Tomlin said to him must have had some effect. With Troy Fautanu out with an injury, Tomlin had to slip Broderick back into the offensive line Sunday against the Chargers. Jones wasted no time trying to get back into the good graces of Mike Tomlin.
Broderick Jones performed much better against the Chargers.
Whatever Tomlin said to Broderick Jones following the win in Denver, he must have taken it to heart. The Jones we saw against the Chargers was much better than the one we saw in the pre-season and the first two weeks of the young NFL season. He was not pitch-perfect, however; he did not draw one penalty the entire game.
One mistake he did make came early in the game. He missed a blocking assignment, allowing pressure on Justin Fields. Short of that one mistake, he stayed on his blocks and did not hold playing a much cleaner game. His improvement helped to upset the 2-0 Chargers, in which the Steelers needed sustained offensive drives and couldn't afford to shoot themselves in the foot as they did against the Broncos.
Broderick Jones is (slowly) trending in the right direction
If there were any shortcomings in the Steelers' offense mistake-wise this week it was Cordarrelle Petterson and Conner Heyward failing to line up on the offensive line correctly, which did lead to calling back a huge reception by Pat Freiermuth in the second half. However, referees called no holding penalties on any of the offensive linemen.
Hence, the game was a much better game collectively from the offensive line. The lack of mistakes allowed the Steelers to sustain drives at crucial times and allowed fileds to make big plays when needed.
As long as the Steelers' offensive line can play as it did against the Chargers, the Steelers' offense should be able to play more competitively for the rest of the season. Plus, now at 3-0 for the season, a lack of mistakes should help when it comes time to play their AFC North opponents later in the season.
With Troy Fautanu now on injured reserve and expected to miss the rest of the season, perhaps along with Nate Herbig, Broderick Jones will need to up his game. Playing well against the Chargers is an excellent first step, but there are still 14 games left in which he will need to play mistake-free football, especially if the Steelers want to make a postseason run in the playoffs.