If you are a fan of the hilarious Douglas Adams novel “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy,” then you will know that the cover of the guide has a helpful message for travelers that might be encountering dangerous situations. It states in large letters “Don’t Panic.” The characters in the book rarely, if ever, follow that advice.

All of us unfortunate souls in Steeler Nation could use our own version of that guide right now. Perhaps I should message Jeff Hartman and float the idea of superimposing “Don’t Panic” behind the SCN logo. As I watched the second preseason game, it would have been beneficial to have those words scrolling across the screen like a severe weather alert. Watching it live, I was most certainly starting to panic.

I’ve viewed more preseason games than I care to admit this preseason, at least the first drives when starters are in the game. I’m to the point where I am ready to buy all the insurance policies if it will just stop Peyton Manning and Brad Paisley from singing at me in those nonstop commercials. I’ve seen good play, average play, and bad play, but the Steelers offensive line took the bar and set it to “ugly” on Saturday night. I could feel all of my offseason optimism packing go-bags and heading for high ground as panic flooded in.

I watched Broderick Jones struggle, and immediately thought of Pat “Stuck In The” Meyers and his unorthodox techniques for pass blocking. New players struggle to take to that teaching, and the line always needs half a season before they figure out how to play together in his system. Then I thought of Kevin Dotson leaving and playing great for the Rams. I remembered how Kendrick Green was sent to the Texans, and he even played well enough to earn a spot on the line. The Steelers forced both of those guys to play out of their natural positions, and they struggled. When they had a coaching staff that understood their strengths, they found success.

This coaching staff seems to employ the “square peg round hole” approach when it comes to the O-line. From the outside, it appears that they would rather force players into their system rather than recognize what they do well and formulate a strategy that takes advantage of their strengths. Can Arthur Smith be a force of change and override the mistakes of the past? This team will only go as far as the offensive line takes them. Even the best designed play called at the exact right time becomes infinitely more difficult if the offensive line can’t do its job.

I put on the all-22 tape to see if I could make myself feel better. I noticed on the first sack that Broderick Jones gave up, he actually false started as well. He had a good half second jump before the ball was snapped, and he lurched back so fast that he was already standing high and off balance. There was no chance to stop the bull rush in that position. The next sack, there were so many Bills players around Russell Wilson, I don’t know how the stats keepers could determine who received the credit. You know on offense when the center doesn’t snap the ball, and the ref says “False start – everyone except the Center”? That’s how this sack would have been called – “Everyone except the deep safety.”

Now I feel like I should take a breath and look at my cover of the Hitchhiker’s Guide again. All reports out of training camp and practice say that the offense looks much better in those settings. The team is running heavy formations and featuring the tight ends in training sessions. The Steelers were in 11 personnel most of the Bills game and did not feature tight ends at all. Perhaps Arthur Smith was only working on the plays the team struggles with to evaluate play, and given that the Falcons know him so well, he can’t put anything new on tape in anticipation of the season opener.

For all we know, week one will see completely different groupings and new plays that suit this team. We can only hope that is the case. The first string defense is for real. Preseason is not. We’ve all been reminding ourselves not to get too high or too low based on these exhibition games. I’m counting on this offense to look completely different in how the game is called once there is for real game planning and strategy based on who they are playing. Until then, I’ll hope that the injuries stop piling up, and I’ll look for individual improvements in the last preseason game instead of team results. I’ll also be telling myself “DON’T PANIC.” Yeah…sure.