‘This Dude Sucked:’ Former Steelers OL Talks ‘Utter Turmoil’ Former Coach Jack Bicknell Jr. Introduced To Pittsburgh

Mike Munchak was the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive line coach from 2014-18, constantly having his unit as among the best within the NFL. Nonetheless, there have been some tough years for the offensive line earlier than the Steelers employed Munchak. Jack Bicknell Jr. was Pittsburgh’s offensive line coach the yr earlier than in 2013, and former Steelers offensive lineman John Malecki just lately spoke about simply how unhealthy Bicknell was in his function.

“That offensive line coach left,” Malecki stated just lately on drdeck’s YouTube channel. “It’s like every job; there’s numerous politics and lots of people and numerous relationship stuff. He went to bat for me, he actually preferred me, preferred the way in which I performed. I knew the playbook inside and outside. They introduced in one other man, and for that season, it was full and utter turmoil.

“This dude sucked. That is just like the Killer B’s period. They need to’ve been Tremendous Bowl contenders, they had been simply screwing issues up on the again finish tremendous laborious, in my view. However they introduced this coach in who couldn’t actually get the room collectively. So, they went above him and began bringing in some guys to attempt to fill some gaps.”

Malecki was an offensive lineman with the Steelers in 2011 and 2012. A Pittsburgh-area native, Malecki was residing a dream with the Steelers. Whereas Malecki doesn’t say any names, it’s straightforward to select who precisely he’s speaking about.

Sean Kugler was the Steelers’ offensive line coach from 2010 to 2012, earlier than leaving to grow to be the pinnacle coach at UTEP in 2013. Due to this fact, he’s seemingly that coach who preferred Malecki and thought he had potential within the NFL.

After Kugler left, the Steelers introduced in Bicknell to interchange him. Reviews through the 2013 season indicated that the rent was not understanding effectively for the Steelers. Longtime workforce insider Gerry Dulac reported that offensive assistant Shaun Sarrett mainly grew to become the offensive line coach through the again half of the season due to how poorly issues had been going with Bicknell.

It seems like Malecki can again that report up. He doesn’t have many good issues to say about Bicknell, which is smart. Malecki was let go by the Steelers earlier than the 2013 season started, and that was the top of his NFL profession. It doesn’t appear to be Bicknell had as a lot curiosity in him as Kugler did.

That dysfunction confirmed up on the sector, too. Ben Roethlisberger was sacked 42 occasions through the 2013 season. Evaluate that to the season earlier than Bicknell bought there when Roethlisberger was solely sacked 30 occasions. In actual fact, that was probably the most occasions Roethlisberger was sacked in a season over the ultimate 12 seasons of his profession.

After the 2013 season, the Steelers did one thing they don’t typically do: fireplace a coach. Bicknell was let go after just one yr in Pittsburgh, exhibiting simply how prepared the workforce was to maneuver on from him. It’s unlucky, particularly for Malecki, nevertheless it did result in the Steelers hiring Munchak. There was a mild on the finish of the tunnel for them.