NFL: Pittsburgh Steelers will be in the playoffs in 2014 if…

If: The offensive line plays like it did during the second half of 2013. That would go a long way to putting Tomlin’s team back in playoff contention, especially in an AFC North that features some of the best front-sevens in the league.

In seven of the last eight seasons, the Steelers have allowed 40-plus sacks, the lone exception coming in 2012 (37). This past season, Pittsburgh blockers allowed 43 sacks, 42 of those on veteran quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. However, it’s also worth noting that this club allowed a total of 36 sacks in the team’s first nine games—giving up three or more quarterback traps in eight of those contests.

In 2013, the team also finished tied for 27th in the NFL in rushing as Todd Haley’s offense averaged a mere 86.4 yards on the ground. And that number may have been worse if Tomlin and company didn’t put 125.7 yards per game rushing during the team’s season-ending three-game losing streak.

But with a little continuity up front came a better performance. Tomlin’s squad allowed a mere seven sacks in its final seven games in 2013, three of those coming in the team’s Week 14 loss to the Miami Dolphins.

General manager Kevin Colbert has used a lot of high draft choices in recent seasons and perhaps they are all now starting to pan out. There have been no such concerns about three-time Pro Bowl center Maurkice Pouncey, who returns healthy after missing basically all of the 2013 season.

The tackles are emerging Kelvin Beachum, a seventh-round pick in 2012, and Marcus Gilbert, while Ramon Foster and 2012 first-rounder David DeCastro are the guards. And this unit will certainly benefit from a new offensive line coach in the Steel City in the former of Pro Football Hall of Fame guard Mike Munchak, who spent the previous three seasons as the sideline leader of the Tennessee Titans.