if this is true its unbelievable

Someone told me that they read tomlin has not had the same starting oline 3 times in a row in his time with steelers. I dont know how to check it but it sounds right

 

well if this is true he should be given one more year before this message board fires him

 

BobbyBiz might seriously know. He's the oline dude on the board.

 

It wouldn't surprise me, and if that's the case, what is Tomlin doing to fix it? If these guys can't stay healthy, why can't they? Is their sloppy technique getting them injured, or are they just injury prone guys? If it's the latter, dump them and get guys who can stay healthy. If it's the former, coach them up and get their technique better. If you can't coach them up because they suck, dump them and get new guys. If you can't coach them up because you suck, then fire yourself Tomlin.

Either way, fix the issue once and for all. We've had a weak Oline for too long now. There's no excuse for a problem to last 5+ years.

 

Not true, but not far off.

He's had six different combinations through the first 15 games.

This chart shows 5, but recently found out that its wrong. Its 6 as week 13 switched Pouncey and Legursky at C and G.

Chart is broken into 5 game stretches. First 5 games is one combination. The Steelers lost two of those games because of defensive meltdowns. Running game was sketchy during those games, but passing game was clicking. The second 5 games is the second combination and its not much different from the first. Just replace Marcus Gilbert with Mike Adams. Pittsburgh went 4-1 in those games with the only loss being the 1st game Ben missed against the Ravens. Also the first 3 games in that column the offense was clicking very well in both the run and pass games. The last 5 games Pittsburgh went 1 and 4. Running game stalled and passing game looked horrible as they couldn't protect the QB to save their lives. Oh, did I mention that this is where the injuries really kicked in? This is where they had 4 different starting combinations over 5 games. Coincidence? I think not, but most here are hell bent on blaming everyone from Ben, to Tomlin, to Haley, to the strength and conditioning coach, to the waterboy, to the field maintenance crew.

 

But do you know if it's true in relation to his CAREER with the Steelers? That was what the original post was asking. I thought you might honestly know.

 

How do you fix injuries? A 350 lard ass falling on your knee or ankle is a purely random event.

Technique maybe. And we're going to find out since they will be getting a new line coach next year. But Kugler was held in high esteem while he was in Pittsburgh.

As far as them sucking, I don't think they do. When they did manage to stay healthy for an extended period of time they really started to click.

 

Well if its isn't true this year, then it won't be true for his career.

All I did was look up each games starting line up on http://www.pro-football-reference.com/. I could go back a few more years, but Im tired.

 

LOL. You oughtta be!

 

Dumb luck and genetics. Starks and Foster never seem to get injured, while Colon, Pouncey, and Gilbert are walking disaters. Woodley and Silverback are always dinged up, while Foote and Timmons seem to stay healthy. Joe Thomas and Alex Mack haven't missed a start in their careers, while we have two guys on our OL who each haven't played a full season yet. Some guys are more predisposed to injury than others, and the other 25% of it is surviving the freak situations that would injure just about anyone.

How can you tell if someone is injury prone? Was DeCastro's collegiate career riddled with small injuries or was the busted knee and recent stinger the first blip on his injury history? Maybe our scouting/medical staff needs to be more thurough in the draft process, or maybe our FO needs to pay more attention to their advice.

 

Good point here GB, maybe the front office needs to look at who are the injury prone types in college. Also note that some players take longer to heal after injuries. I remember when Franco H would get injured, and it would take forever for him to get back into playing, similar to Troy, it just seems that when he gets injured, he is always out longer then you think.

I also don't remember Foote ever been injured, which is really amasing!

 

as for starks , its hard to get injured when you don't touch anyone during half your plays. starks has been injured several times too.

 

He's the only player on the offensive line to play every snap this season.

 

I just always hear my high school coach in my head: "bad technique will get you or a teammate injured." Now, what did he know? Probably not much, or else he wouldn't have been a mediocre HS coach. Still, even though that was 30 years ago, I have never been able to get those words out of my head when it comes to the o-line. Decastro's injury, for instance, wasn't because he did something wrong, but because his teammates did.

 

Well according to Ben it was because the turf did something wrong. LOL.

 

look at when adams was inserted into the tarting lineup...that was the same time the running game took off in cincy...he is clearly the best run blocker on the team and when he was out we struggled...

 

Yes, the middle column seems to yield the best results. But notice how the whole thing fell apart once Colon went out.