Former Steelers Coach Has Learned Absolutely Nothing Since Leaving Pittsburgh

Ever since Mike Munchack left town, the Pittsburgh Steelers have been trying to find a suitable replacement for him. They have tried many options, with Pat Meyer sticking around after a successful 2022 season for the offensive line. Whether Meyer can get his unit up to speed after the bye week in 2023 or not is to be determined, but if he can, the Steelers might have their man. However, it took some failure to find a potential long-term offensive line coach candidate, including a problematic coach that bailed from the team as soon as he got the opportunity. 

Like with the Steelers, the New England Patriots have been trying to find a replacement after their long-time offensive line coach. Dante Scarnecchia, retired. They still haven't found their man either. The search for their new great offensive line coach isn't the only similarity that the two teams have, however. 

Steelers and Patriots Woes Have A Common Denominator

In 2021, the Steelers hired Adrian Klemm to run their offensive line with his supposed college-style toughness and violent efforts. The Steelers were one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL in 2021, with Dan Moore Jr. and Kendrick Green being thrown into the fire as the starters on day one. Regression hit hard for everyone involved, and Klemm ended up leaving the Steelers before the season ended. 

What made everything worse was that the Steelers offensive line immediately improved without Klemm, and it wasn't like they had a ton of talent on the line either. With Klemm gone, guys like John Leglue and JC Hassenauer stepped up and helped protect Ben Roethlisberger in his final few games of his career. Najee Harris had a career game immediately after Klemm left. 

Former Steelers coaches rarely ever get hired in the NFL after being let go, and now you have a coach that ruined at least a couple of young, promising careers, and left the team once he got a job offer elsewhere. Surely, this would be another case of a college coach staying the course and not getting a chance in the NFL. The Patriots decided otherwise. 

The Patriots originally interviewed Klemm to be their offensive coordinator, but when he wasn't their choice, they brought him on as their offensive line coach. Through five weeks, their offensive line is a disaster. Rhamondre Stevenson was seen as an underrated running back that could help Bill Belichick's smash-mouth offense that they've had for the entire 21st century. He's not even averaging three yards per carry in 2023. Ezekiel Elliot is averaging one yard per carry more than Stevenson is, and he's still not doing well either. 

It's hard for any quarterback to succeed behind the worst offensive line in the league. Mac Jones looked like a promising replacement for Tom Brady. Now, he is seemingly losing all confidence. The offense has given more points to the opposing defense than they have scored over the last two games. In both games, he has been benched for Bailey Zappe, who hasn't done well either. 

It's no coincidence that the Patriots have had the two worst losses in the Belichick era back-to-back. When you have no offensive line, it's nearly impossible for the offense to get rolling. Klemm's style might work at the college level, but it has been a failure with both the Steelers and the Patriots. He didn't learn from his mistakes, and the Patriots were fooled into thinking that he did. Steeler Nation can only watch on from afar and say "I told you so." He might be one-and-done in New England.