It's only the preseason. The games don't count. It's different once September rolls around. These are cliches that are thrown around when a supposedly good team struggles in August, and they are cliches for a reason: they're usually true.
That said, when is it going to be okay to worry about the Steelers' offensive line? They didn't just look bad against Washington; they looked abysmal. I don't care that Guy Whimper got smoked by Joey McTacklemore or whatever, I mean the starting offensive line. I think the Redskins have a solid front seven, but the line got manhandled. That can't happen in September. It just can't.
This is a really young offensive line. The Steelers have wisely invested high draft picks in the offensive line over the past few seasons, and it's promising to see those guys coming through as starters right now. The problem with that is that they need to be cohesive. The line is a unit. When one player breaks down, the protection breaks down. I'm not an offensive linemen and I've never been an offensive lineman. I don't know the specifics of playing that position and I won't pretend to. But I know when they aren't playing well, and they aren't right now. If they aren't playing well, the offense isn't going to work.
But again, it's only preseason. It isn't the time to panic. It would be time to panic if they don't look any better once the score starts to count. Youth and talent bodes well for the future, but at present it looks like inexperience and immaturity (especially with the penalties).
There's a lot of panic on the internet now, and there's even more people shouting down those who are putting too much stock into the preseason. Sure, it's not time to press the panic button.
But it's time to be concerned.
