If you’re among the horde of #steelers fans crying about Mason Cole’s 2023…stop it. If you wanted a C who could stand up to the Chris Jones and Jalen Carters of the world, sure, you might want to look elsewhere. But if you have two top-ten RB’s, a bunch of road-paving offensive linemen, and your boss told you to “fix the run game,” Mason Cole is the guy you want snapping the ball.
How quickly you forget he played EVERY SINGLE SNAP in 2022, and not one single person - not here, not nationally - had one negative word to say about him. He was getting bull-rushed into backfields just as often as he was this year (remember that Kenny sneak TD in the Saints game? Didn’t think so). Suddenly a couple snaps come out wonky and you instantly lose all that good will? Did you not watch Creed Humphrey in the Super Bowl? There’s a certain C from Florida, I’m blanking on his name right now, but he also had some inopportune snap issues.
Cole’s exceptional at what he does well: in the run game, on the move. Stop expecting him to be everything, everywhere, all at once.