Michael Brockers. Aaron Donald. Chris Long. Robert Quinn. Four former first round draft picks. And by the way, they just happen to make up the St. Louis Rams starting defensive line. Might as well throw in 'backup' Nick Fairley, a former first round pick of the Detroit Lions who now calls St. Louis home and is used extensively in their rotation.
No pressure for the Steelers offensive line this week, right?
"It's a big challenge," said center Cody Wallace. "You watch them the first two weeks and they are getting in the backfield a lot and causing a lot of issues. We just have to be sharp. They are all good. The backups are all good players. It's not like you are getting a play off when they bring another guy in. They have a solid front."
Donald already has two and a half sacks this season, Quinn two, Long one and Fairley half a sack. It's a group that can wreak havoc if they get in the backfield, and the job for the offensive line is to make sure they don't.
"It's a huge challenge," said guard David DeCastro. "They rotate. That is part of the NFL. A lot of guys rotate. They just happen to have great guys at every position.
"That is the challenge we face. You are on the road with the noise. It's tough. We have to be on our game. It's a team sport. If we can control the ball and the defense helps us out, we can stay ahead in the game it should make our life easier. We definitely have to be on our keys."
Last week the offensive line was spot on, protecting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger who wasn't sacked once. Keeping Roethlisberger upright again this week is what the line is setting out to do.
"It's a great challenge," said tackle Kelvin Beachum. "This is one of those challenges you can't wait for. You thrive on it. They are a very disruptive defense. We know we are going to have our hands full. If we can keep Ben clean and get Le'Veon (Bell) beyond the line of scrimmage we can produce some results.
"We still have to do a better job of protecting Ben. We have to find a way to keep him upright. When we keep him upright we have results like we did last Sunday when he is offensive player of the week. We have to find a way to go into a hostile environment and find a way to win. When Ben takes his jersey off at the end of the day and there are no dirt stains, no grass stains, we know we did a great job and that is our standard."
