What Is Going On With This Line??

Mike Adams looks like a giant chasing little people and they are running around him and between his legs. Gilbert is a turnstile.

 

Adams is struggling with technique. He's getting beat with hands on running plays and we all know that was his strong point last year.

Gilbert is killing them. Not a suprise when Beachum came in and things picked up! Why the hell is Beachum not starting? Oh, wait I got it! He's the best we have to back-up every position! This position flex crap is stupid! Get the best guys out there at their best positions!

 

I said during the game thread when Gilbert got benched the shot of him on the sideline should seriously be a part of the 2013 highlight reel. I'm sick of him, Adams, and Foster honestly.

 

My fear is that Haley and MT have seen it in practice, have tried to fix it, and this is as good as it gets.

 

poor beachum at LT tried to block two guys, while foster watched the first guy beachum blocked run past him while he tried to help an already blocked man by velasco. you all (strummerfan) can say i have a man crush on him or whatever, but he's the best tackle we have on this team.

as i've said before, beachum would be my starting LT. i'd bring long up and start him on the right side. wallace, decastro or bring hubbard up and the best two would be the guards. enough is enough. long and hubbard are at least athletic.

ben isn't innocent in this either. he is and has always been very careless with the ball.

no more excuses, colbert you should never be allowed to pick a lineman again or anyone else for that matter if i had my way. he'd go with adams and gilbert, he made this mess. it didn't just start either, when we want max starks back and flozell adams and think they are good, it's been a long time coming.

 

DeCastro isn't playing well either....kind of scary.

 

DeCastro looked plenty weak out there last night. He needs to live in the weight room this offseason.

 

I want to know you was responsible for selecting this group of guys?

 

Well, I guess I need to apologize to Gilbert as well as PFF is reporting that Gilbert played well in the game along with DeCastro. I'm just a fan looking from the outside and they are the expert. But if he played so well, why did Tomlin replace him during the game for a few plays?

So, I guess our weak links are Adams and Foster.

 

they didn't say gilbert played well, they said he was the 2nd best of our linemen. decastro the first.

 

I just dont get it the hate for the o line.

They have played against 3 good d lines so far, someone tell me thats not true. Then against arguably the best one (Bears) i think held thier own for 3 guys with 3 years or less experience (maybe 4 i think velasco is in his 3rd no?) and Foster. There is still such a high ceiling.

We asked a 2nd year guy in Adams to go man up on a possible hall of famer in peppers (though i dont think hell ever get in) oh and how many games has he played at left tackle..... 3?

I know we have a "standard." Then again who wants to admit that all of steeler nation has a standard for our team, thus when tomlin speaks those famous words he is just resonating the mentality of the steeler fans.

I am just as frustrated with it as you are but i suppose i see positives. Gilbert responded well in the 2nd half, Decastro has grown and showing more understanding, Velasco, 2nd game with the team, has signs of communication issues but i like the performance for the circumstance he is in. Foster has been the quiet one but remember he should be. He is actually probably in his "Prime". Adams, even though i defended him earlier his tech has been rough and play equally the same. Yet, i remember that it is his 2nd year and i believe he was moved to Left because the steelers new he had a higher ceiling then Gilbert and are letting the growth come.

The 49ers have probably the best oline in football right now anyone remember the woes of Alex Smiths first couple years?

Im not confident in their play but i am being patient i have seen growth.

 

practice won't make there physical and athleticness improve. it's not a question of them gelling, it's more about what they can't do physically. adams doesn't have the feet to move quick enough at the money spot. he gets beat around the corner and on the double move consistantly because his feet won't move any faster. foster is to fat and slow. gilbert loses control of his block way to easily because of slow feet. this isn't a coachable things, it's physical traits and insticts.

 

What is noticeable is the fact this Oline doesn't improve weekly, there are many other teams starting rookies in their oline and they play well, the bears had two rookies starting on their line and they played solid against us, so, the only explanation is, it has to be the coaching, so quit blaming the players and put the blame where it belongs, tomlin hires the oline coaches, and tomlin knows nothing about coaching an oline.....

 

Both of our lines seem to be moving in slow motion when compared to their opponents. Two first round and two second round picks on our OL (Pouncey out is a 1 pick) and Big Ben gets hit on every pass play. I dont see how Ben or any other QB in the league could make it through a season getting hit from so many angles, its just a matter of time before an injury will occure leading to missed games.

 

there is confusion and alot of it comes from make up speed or quickness of the players.

mike adams struggles physically with the same things he always has in pass protection.

some of the clean pocket was thanks to beachum on 16 plays and dwyer on a few others. for example beachum took the inside man and then went to the outside blitzer as he should have because he knew there wasn't help from a back or TE in that instance. foster played that completely wrong and didn't have the foot quickness or awareness to fill his gap and block the passed down inside rusher. part of that's execution and part of that is physicality to make up for it.

getting beat one on one has nothing to do with gelling. when they dont pass off one player to the next or initially hit the right target first with the man next to them is a gelling problem, not the one on one beatings that go on play after play.

 

Did anyone catch that during the game our oline only has like 102 combined starts and its like there 2nd and 3rd year in the league. It was least out of any team in the nfl. I thought holy cow the bears are starting to rookies and they aren't even close to that.

 

Dwyer was doing excellent pass protection. He owned Conte on one of their blitzes

Bman



And here is Dwyer picking up a safety blitz

 

Agree. I was really impressed with his pass protection. He is by far the best RB the Steelers have in blitz pick up. Why did we cut him again? Another peplexing Tomlin personnel move.

 

its Bens fault.

he should be getting rid of the ball within 1 second. all the top qbs get rid of that quick. take the snap and just wing it.

oh sorry, most good qbs have atleast 4 seconds to actually get a pass off not less than 2 seconds.

seriously, why dont the coaches run more shot gun? it would give Ben atleast another second. that would give him 2.5 seconds to throw the ball. thats more than enough time to scan the field.

 

Aye, I was surprised by that stat as well.

But this is what Labriola said at the start of the season: we've got a young team, and it's going to be ups and downs. We had high expectations for Decastro and Adams, but they're still learning the NFL. Decastro's confidence took a knock when he took out Pouncey.

I tend to think that a lot of the time they're trying a bit too hard to "get it right" and not relying on the instincts which got them to the NFL in the first place.

And Gilbert... I've defended him before. In his first season, he was an understated success. But I don't see the improvement. Perhaps it comes when the line stays the same for at least two games in a row?

One thing for sure is, Ben could be throwing the ball away after 1 second... if you let someone like DJ Williams just charge through untouched, there isn't much a QB can do about it (other than try not to fumble).

 

OLBC!