There was a lot of attention paid to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ bookend tackles going into the preseason opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Fortunately for both Broderick Jones and Troy Fautanu, they delivered some promising play in the Steelers’ 31-25 win.
Fautanu made his return to game action after missing most of his rookie season with a knee injury, while Jones needed to show some positive reps at left tackle after making the move there this offseason. Fautanu has looked very good throughout training camp and there seemed to be no real concerns with him, but Jones has had some struggles and has been dealing with a groin injury.
On Saturday night though, the two played some good football. They were aggressive, helped create clean pockets for quarterback Mason Rudolph, and helped anchor a strong performance from the offensive line in limited action.
Appearing on 93.7 The Fan’s Morning Show, former Steelers offensive lineman Trai Essex says it was a “beautiful thing” to see the Steelers’ young OTs get off to a good start. And it was thanks to some help from OC Arthur Smith.
“They played well. They were aggressive. Now, Arthur Smith called a very offensive line friendly game. I thought it was very pertinent of him to get the guys out to a fast start,” Essex said of the Steelers’ offensive tackles, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “And as offensive lineman, we always like to go out forward versus going backwards to start a game. You always wanna punch first. You don’t wanna be sitting on the first pass if you can’t help it, you know?
“And so I thought coming out and doing play action was a nice mix. Those are the safe plays for offensive linemen because you have very few chances they get mental errors.”
The Steelers came out throwing in the preseason opener, with quarterback Mason Rudolph completing 7-of-7 passes for 70 yards on the opening drive. The play-action pass on the first play from scrimmage that went for 19 yards to wide receiver Roman Wilson allowed the offensive line to be aggressive and sell run early in the rep, throwing the first punch to the defense.
Jones and Fautanu played just 15 snaps each, but in 12 pass-blocking snaps, neither allowed a pressure. On the touchdown pass from Rudolph to tight end Darnell Washington, the offensive line gave Rudolph a great pocket, and it started with the tackles keeping things clean on the perimeter.
Though there were some struggles in the run game from the offensive line throughout the game, the pass protection was very encouraging. Jones finished with a grade of 61.6 in pass protection from Pro Football Focus, while Fautanu finished with a grade of 61.5, though he did have an illegal-use-of hands penalty early in the game.
The PFF grades for the offensive line overall aren’t that encouraging, primarily due to the Steelers’ struggles in the run game, but they were much better in pass protection than given credit for from the system. Essex saw it and is encouraged.
“It was really good to see the tackles do what they had to do to keep the pressure away,” Essex added. “Obviously the inside was very solid between Spencer [Anderson], Mason [McCormick] and Zach [Frazier], and I thought they did a good job across the board.
“But it was a beautiful thing to see our young tackles get out and get out to a fast start.”
It’s just one preseason game and 15 snaps, but it was certainly encouraging. Jones has started to round into form during training camp, as Steelers Depot’s Alex Kozora noted, and Fautanu has been maybe their best offensive lineman. There’s a lot riding on the young bookend tackles, so Saturday night’s showing was a great step in the right direction for the Black and Gold.
We’ll need to see more of it in the Steelers’ final two preseason games.
