NFL cracking down on deep setups by offensive tackles

The Pittsburgh Steelers and every NFL team not playing on Thursday night need to pay attention to the showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens. Not because these are two of the best teams in the AFC. Because of the officials.

Just through the first quarter of Thursday night’s game, the Baltimore Ravens have been hit with multiple illegal formation penalties on their offensive line for setting up too deep at offensive tackle.

This was a serious problem in the NFL last season, and if you don’t think it was, you don’t have a premier pass rusher who was getting mauled on every other play. The Steelers dealt with this constantly with T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, and so this news hits home.

The league has been skewing heavily toward the passing game, and it is refreshing to see the league actually addressing this issue. It is going to take some time for teams to adjust, and there will be growing pains.

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