Offensive line playing the long game

And the group earned a more positive review, relatively speaking, after a 19-9 victory over the Lions.

“It definitely wasn’t as harsh,” Dotson said. “But he’s gonna call you out, regardless. It doesn’t matter if we had a great game, he’ll be able to find that negative.

“And it’s not really a bad thing. You want to be able to know what you did wrong, and he’s gonna call that every time.”

Tomlin confirmed the perceived positive steps taken against Detroit, and the need to continue heading in that direction.

“It was better in some areas but there are some things that continually need to be addressed,” he said.

The stretch of games the Steelers will need to win while continuing to get better commences on Sept. 11 at Cincinnati.

Dotson thinks he’ll be starting at left guard in that one, but he isn’t certain.

“I believe I will be,” he said. “I haven’t been told anything. I can’t really give you a full, 100-percent answer, but I’m pretty sure.”

The offensive line room emerged from the mandatory roster cut to 53 on Tuesday having deleted William Dunkle, Adrian Ealy, Chaz Green, John Leglue, Ryan McCollum, Joe Haeg and Trent Scott, and having added veteran Jesse Davis in a trade with Minnesota.