Welcome to the terrible take a mini podcast telling Steelers nation what's on our mind.

I'm Josh Carney.

Historically, the Pittsburgh Steelers have been very good at drafting and developing,

building through the draft, keeping their draft

picks around long term, and then continuing that cycle over and over again, seemingly every

year.

When it comes to how they handle rookies, they have a pretty good track

record. Yet, despite knowing all of that, how they've handled rookie left tackled

Project Jones and rookie cornerback Joey Porter

Jr. thus far this season is quite puzzling.

And it was only made worse by how good the two performed on Sunday in a must win game at Accresher Stadium against the Baltimore

Ravens.

Jones was solid at left to tackle, holding his own in his first career start. He graded out as the second highest rookie first round offensive tackle in week five from pro football focus.

And he allowed just one pressure in the win.

He was impactful as a run blocker too.

Then there's Porter Jr. who was inserted into the game in the fourth quarter and

base defense for the struggling veteran Patrick Peterson. and base picking off Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson in the end zone to completely change momentum back to the Steelers favor

after Gunner Olshesky's fumble on a punt return, keeping the game at 10 to 8 setting up the Steelers comeback.

For how well the Steelers rookies played on Sunday, it begs the question.

What the heck kept them out of the lineup so long?

It certainly wasn't the play of the veterans in front of them,

that being Dan Moore Jr. in Peterson.

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