After his solid preseason debut last week, Mike Tomlin told the media in his postgame press conference that C Zach Frazier should expect an increased workload. On Wednesday, during final practice at Saint Vincent College, Nate Herbig was injured. This injury is reportedly serious and is expected to keep him out of action for an extended period of time, obviously accelerating the timeline for Frazier to become the starter.
After today’s warm-up game against the Buifalo Bills and Frazier’s work with the first offense, Tomlin summed up the rookie’s game.
“I was largely pleased with the work I saw from Frazier,” Tomlin said in a video posted on the Steelers’ YouTube channel after the Steelers’ 9-3 loss.
For one thing, the Steelers didn’t have any problems with snaps like they did a week ago with Herbig and Justin Fields. This week, Frazier and Wilson were on the first team and they had no problems in that area.
At first glance, Frazier didn’t stand out much. I saw him get thrown back on one or two bull rushes, but it didn’t seem like he was responsible for any of the sacks. The offensive line as a whole was concerning. Broderick Jones had a particularly rough game against Greg Rousseau. The offense never got into a rhythm with multiple three-and-outs.
I wrote before the game that Frazier had to prove himself against better competition. The fact that he didn’t attract any negative attention is an overall positive for him.
According to Chris Adamski of TribLive on X, Zach Frazier confirmed after the game that he made the decisions at the line.
When asked whether he was conducting the management discussions and whether he felt safe doing so, he answered “yes” to both questions.
The center is the vocal leader of the line, and his ability to make those decisions and read defensive fronts is just as important as his play on the field to the continued development of this young offensive line during the 2024 season.
