It is not often that, going into a major rivalry game with playoff implications in December, the microscope of attention lands on an offensive lineman.
But that is the case in Dallas in Week 14 as Philadelphia comes to visit. Many eyes will be on Terence Steele, the Cowboys offensive tackle whose brutal performance helped fuel the disappointing, 28-23 loss to the Eagles five weeks ago, the last time the Cowboys lost a game.
Again, it is not often you can say this, but the Cowboys likely lost that game because of Terence Steele. He struggled badly. One blog wrote of his blocking numbers: “That’s staggering.
And they were. According to Pro Football Focus, Steele allowed 12 quarterback pressures and four sacks, out of the five sacks the Cowboys allowed. He allowed quarterback Dak Prescott to be hurried seven times.
In all the PFF grade for the Cowboys’ Terence Steele in Week 9: 31.7. His pass-blocking grade was a 15.0. He would not say whether that was the worst game of his career, though if you trust the PFF grading system, it was.
“I don’t know, probably,” he said in the locker room on Wednesday. “I don’t keep track. I just try to get better each week.
While the Cowboys seemed to have improved since then, the big question might be, has Terence Steele improved since then? Expect the Eagles to try to find out.
He did say on Wednesday that he is more confident. “Just taking it day by day,” Steele said. “Trying, each day, to get better and better and keep stacking days and that will stack confidence.