Aug 20, 2021 5 min read

The Steelers are still keeping their new offense under coordinator Matt Canada under wraps and will do so throughout the preseason.

No sense in tipping their hand to the Bills, their opponent in the regular-season opener Sept. 12 in Buffalo.

But the Steelers can’t keep quarterback Ben Roethlisberger under wraps in this preseason. With a new offensive coordinator, offense and line in front of him, Roethlisberger needs to play this preseason.

“I tried to play last week because it was on the road and that would have been our first opportunity to go on the road with circumstances like crowd noise and things like that before we go into a very hostile environment in Week 1. I couldn’t talk (coach Mike Tomlin) into it.”

Nah, the Steelers’ head coach knows better than that.

There’s not that much to be gained from exposing starters too much in a preseason game.

But that offensive line?

Well, it could use all the time together it can get.

The presumed starting unit of Chuks Okorafor and Zach Banner at tackle, Kevin Dotson and Trai Turner at guard and rookie Kendrick Green at center only got on the field together for the first time earlier this week.

It was presumed that because the Steelers had an extra preseason game this year because of their participation in the Hall of Fame game, it would be good for the offensive line, which is breaking in essentially five new starters. Only Okorafor started more than four games for the Steelers last season, and his starts came at right tackle, not on the left side where he’ll line up this year.

“I’m excited for them. There’s a lot of continuity that they need to develop together,” Roethlisberger said. “It’s not so much how do I feel about them. To be successful, they need to feel comfortable with each other. It will be good for them to get on the field together and work together and see how this group will move forward.”

That had better happen quickly.

• Honestly, that is the only thing on this team that is a serious question mark – though poor offensive line play can certainly prove fatal to a team’s playoff hopes.

Then again, I saw a tweet after the first week of the preseason from a national reporter stating that he follows local beat reporters for every NFL team and at least 19 of them are complaining about the offensive line of the team they cover being a big problem.

The Steelers aren’t alone in this area. And at least this line – unlike the one from last year – has a chance to get better as the season rolls along.

• At one point this season, the Pirates were 12-11. Think about that for a minute. Let it sink in.

They’re now closing in on falling 40 games below .500.

After being swept by the Dodgers in Los Angeles earlier this week, they had lost 15 of their past 17 games.

And even with all of that losing, they still don’t own the worst record in baseball.

That belongs to the Baltimore Orioles, who have a remarkable .317 winning percentage and took a 15-game losing streak into Friday night against the Atlanta Braves.

Worse yet is the Pirates at least lost two of the three games in Los Angeles by one run. They’re at least competing.

The Orioles? In their losing streak they have been beaten by three or more runs in every game.

That’s not just bad. That’s historically bad.

• Congratulations to Brownsville, Texas, for winning the Pony World Series. And it was great to see so many fans at Lew Hays Pony Field for the event, especially after there was no tournament in 2020.

But anyone watching the games on TV this year had to wonder how the team from Youngstown, Ohio, had kids on its roster who attended schools at Mt. Lebanon, Riverside and Neshannock among other places.

I t seemed the Youngstown team had kids from everywhere except, you know, Youngstown.

Sorry, but that’s not an all-star team. That’s a travel program when you can pull kids in from wherever you want.

This is in no way sour grapes. Youngstown had a very good team, one that beat Washington County handily both times they played.

And Youngstown was just playing by the rules put forth by PONY International. Those rules are what need to be adjusted.

This is supposed to be an all-star tournament, not a collection of AAU teams. If you have to leave for baseball practice more than an hour before it starts to get there in time, that’s stretching the rules.