PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – In reflecting on areas to improve hours after the win over Chicago, the first Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin brought up was the offensive line.
"Just in terms of controlling the line of scrimmage on offense, I thought we didn't do that," Tomlin said. "That was a step back relative to recent weeks."
Now it's up to Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada and his staff to fix it. Canada said it starts with the work this week in practice.
"They are all professionals," Canada said. "They all have great pride. It's hard. Every game is hard. All we have to do is win this week. We had a couple of plays that got really dicey, really fast. We have to do a better job in certain situations. They all know that. They are working as hard as they can."
Steelers offense averaged only 4.2 yards per play, 3.3 per rush play against the Bears. Against Cleveland it was 5.2 yards per play, 4.9 against Seattle and 6.4 against Denver.
"There were a few more (mistakes) then there had been," Canada said. "I think Coach mentioned it, you don't ever want to get beat, but those things do happen. There are great players on both sides. We can't have mistakes, communication errors. There are some things that are correctable."
"That's the way it goes," said a philosophical Ben Roethlisberger. "You understand that those guys are pretty good too. They get paid money, defensive
lines. That was a good D-line we played last week, so they had their hands full. It's not always gonna be easy."
Canada said they will evaluate again this week if tackle Zach Banner is an option to rejoin the group. Banner has been available for the last couple of weeks, but yet to dress for a game.
"I think it's a group that's growing," said defense captain Cam Heyward of the offensive line. "They take their lumps sometimes, but they never stay down. When we need big plays from them, they've come to help those big plays. I think Trai (Turner) leads the group. It's a group that has to be on the rise for us."
"I like that they are a bunch of battlers. It's not always pretty, sometimes it's a bar fight, sometimes it's just that we get out. They are coming to work and we need them."
Canada on Claypool
Unable to practice the first day of work for Lions week, Canada said receiver Chase Claypool is more than just the catches.
"Chase is a big-time receiver for us, makes a lot of big plays," Canada said. "We saw a lot of those penalties. Chase makes big plays or causes a lot of chaos. Those things don't show up in stats."
"Those defensive pass interference calls that Chase always seems to get & get a lot of; it's a big deal."
"Obviously, we hope he is back as soon as he can be, hopefully he can go. Like everybody, you got to go next man up & find a way to win."
Detroit
Canada said they are facing an aggressive Detroit defense that walks a lot of guys up to the line of scrimmage to cause issues. He calls the Lions 'a big challenge', adding 'everyone is a big challenge for us'.
