The Pittsburgh Steelers have plenty to work on during their bye week before the team returns to action against the Los Angeles Rams, but there is one player that the Steelers very specifically need to get going, and that is center Mason Cole.
Cole joined the Steelers in 2022 after a serviceable but undistinguished four seasons as a regular with the Arizona Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings. He played both center and guard in his career before coming to Pittsburgh, but settled in at center for the Steelers last season.
Cole wasn’t necessarily great, but he was a critical piece for the improvements the team’s offensive line made in 2022. He immediately cleaned up the snapping issues that had plagued the team when Kendrick Green had the starting job. In 2021, the Steelers averaged 3.9 yards per rush and gave up 38 sacks. In 2022, they ran at 4.1 yards per carry while keeping the sacks constant.
But that improvement from Cole hasn’t carried over into 2023. Last season, he gave up two sacks, four quarterback hits and 15 hurries for 21 total pressures in 651 pass-block snaps. This season, he has allowed one sack, three quarterback hits and nine hurries for 13 total pressures in just 191 pass-block snaps. Cole went from allowing a pressure every 31 snaps to one every 14.7 snaps.
The team’s running game has regressed, as well, with the Steelers averaging 3.4 yards per carry on the season. That’s come despite a better performance from the team’s running backs. In 2022, Najee Harris ran for minus 116 Net Yards over Expectation, a metric from NFL Next Gen Stats that compares rushing totals to when a rusher was first contacted by a defender. This year, he’s at plus-2.
So Harris is running more effectively, but the Steelers are averaging 0.7 yards per carry less than last season, and Cole specifically has given up nearly twice as many pressure on a per-snap basis. That’s despite an upgrade at left guard in Isaac Seumalo. Furthermore, Cole played through a foot injury in 2022 that had him frequently sporting a walking boot on off days throughout the season. He seems healthy now.
And the Steelers haven’t even faced a lot of quality opposition at defensive tackle, outside of facing the San Francisco 49ers duo of Arik Armstead and Javon Hargrave. The opposition over the last four weeks should not have been overwhelming.
That changes after the bye, as the Steelers will visit the most dangerous defensive tackle in the league in Los Angeles Rams All-Pro Aaron Donald. The Pittsburgh native and three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year can wreck the week of a lineman that’s been playing well, let alone one that’s struggling.
That’s the big challenge for offensive line coach Pat Meyer this week, and it starts with getting Cole back to where he was playing in 2022.