5 players the Steelers need to play well to beat the Bills

Dan Moore

You could really say “the entire offensive line here,” but Moore is the guy who, above everyone else up front, needs to step up.

Pittsburgh has played musical chairs with Moore in terms of his positioning on the offensive line throughout camp and the preseason. He started out by competing with Chukwuma Okorafor for the starting left tackle job. Okorafor was then moved to right tackle to replace the injured Zach Banner, so Moore was then moved from the jumbo right tackle spot back to left tackle where he is now, assigned with protecting Big Ben’s blind side.

The Steelers tackles weren’t good last season at keeping pressure off Roethlisberger, which is in large part why they were a two step drop and throw offense and why they became easy to stop in the final stretch of the 2020 season.

Moore is a rookie fourth round pick out of Texas A&M whom the Steelers were really impressed by throughout camp and the preseason. His ability to perform in zone blocking schemes fits right into what Matt Canada wants to do offensively, and head coach Mike Tomlin has been complimentary on Moore’s floor being higher than expected.

Keeping Roethlisberger clean will be a big determining factor into how well this offense plays, which means Moore needs to live up to the expectations. If Ben has time to find his receivers, and Harris has lanes to run through, then we’ll know Moore did his job.