Steelers’ recent first-round pick takes accountability for poor preseason 'Got to be better'
It has been a preseason to forget for Pittsburgh Steelers OT Broderick Jones. Struggling mightily against the Buffalo Bills last Saturday, questions about his fitness and if he should be in the starting lineup have arisen. But for Jones, he's taking the criticism on the shins, being accountable, and turning his attention to his next […]
It has been a preseason to forget for Pittsburgh Steelers OT Broderick Jones.
Struggling mightily against the Buffalo Bills last Saturday, questions about his fitness and if he should be in the starting lineup have arisen.
But for Jones, he's taking the criticism on the shins, being accountable, and turning his attention to his next performance.
Jones knows he has to be better
“Just got to be better,” Jones said Tuesday. “I feel for us as an offense we are always trying to get that extra emphasis on starting fast and being physical. For me, I feel like I didn’t set the tone from the beginning. I just got to continue to get better each and every day.”
Jones certainly got out of the gate slow, letting up a sack on the offense's first drive and struggling to re-group for the rest of the night. Technique, injury, whatever the case it wasn't pretty.
“I’m as healthy as I’m going to get with the season coming up," Jones said when asked about his elbow brace. "Everybody is always playing with some minor injury. You have to push through it. I play the offensive line. It’s a physical brand of football here.”
Now the raw truth is admirable, but the fact that Jones didn't deny the injury is a tad concerning for his projection. When Mike Tomlin was asked about Jones' elbow and the brace he said: "We aren't looking for excuses."
“I think the next performance is the indication of that,” Tomlin said when asked about Jones bouncing back. “It’s a process in terms of getting better. You play, you evaluate, you analyze, you acknowledge, you make another plan to get ready for the next opportunity. Ultimately, responses are gaged by the next performance.”
While true, Pittsburgh undoubtedly thought that Jones would be further along by now. In fairness to him, he's playing out of position due to the Troy Fautanu injury, so the Steelers' process of developing him hasn't been ideal either.
Taking a player that was raw as a left tackle, and throwing him on the right side has been a recipe for disaster.
Even still, some of the issues plaguing Jones' technique are independent of what side of the line he's on and that's concerning for Pittsburgh.
“Whether they don’t feel like he’s ready yet, whether there’s some technique issues that have to be ironed out, whatever it is, it’s not a good sign for the Steelers’ offensive line. I think they were expecting at this point that he would be a little bit further along," said Steelers reporter Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
We'll see if Jones can get back on track against the Detroit Lions on Saturday.
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