Maurkice Pouncey's career an overall disappointment?

At what point do we start considering the possibility that Pouncey's career has been somewhat of a disappointment overall? He's had some terrible breaks with the "friendly fire" injuries and so forth, but I don't think we can refer to his career as a resounding success at this point. He's an extremely athletic center and has shown flashes of brilliance, but I've also seen him get pushed around by really big, physical NT's as well. I realize Wallace is nowhere near what Pouncey is in athletic ability, but he's done a pretty decent job filling in as did Fernando Velasquez when he filled in for Pouncey. Shoot, even Doug Legursky played great in the Super Bowl against the Packers when Pouncey was injured yet again. Hindsight is 20/20, but let me dare ask the question. Did we make a mistake by giving Pouncey the huge contract?

 

Not a Bust. But giving him that deal was a huge error by Pittsburgh. He has always been brittle, a finesse player, and quite frankly, he is not the best citizen away from the field. I think his IQ drops a lot when he hangs with his Brother. I personally would cut bait with him after the season. Not worth the 8-10 million he takes on our Cap.

 

This exactly. He's a great center, so no his talent and play on the field is not a disappointment. You can be disappointed that he has had two season ending injuries, but neither were necessarily his fault. He's had some tough luck in that department.

 

Once he showed he was Injury prone he should have been moved to Guard . The Center is the most dangerous place on the OL and he plays against a 3-4 Team in the North with Monster NT'S that are simply to big for him...

All I heard is why take your Probowl center and move him to guard ? The answer is and was to extend his career ...You sandwich almost any Center between him and DD and the interior of that OL will be just fine....

 

Based on the results from this season, where we see pretty solid O-line play and our QBs not taking a beating, I would say that we really don't need Pouncey at his 8-10 million cap number.

I'm sure most will argue that he is a Steeler great and deserves every penny, but it is simply not logical. Upgrading the center position to an All-Pro (Pouncey) over a decent option (Wallace) for 6-8 million, where the increase in play does not do too much for the team overall (we have the top rushing offense in the league and our QBs aren't taking a real big beating), is not logical.

The team would be much better off if we somehow found a way to use Pouncey's cap number to upgrade the Safety or CB positions.

Other than depth, the secondary seems to be the only real area of weakness. I like who we have as starters at the other positions.

 

I'm a firm believer conditioning is the common denominator for physicality long term. Imo Pouncey is on the edge..or is accident prone already. Thinking he lacks discipline in the stretch dept. Pouncey is pretty dam good when he attends work just don't bump him. As for Wallace i'm impressed on the development thus far and will only improve moving forward. I need to see more to share my thoughts on the $

 

Exactly.

I'm not so sure about going with Wallace and dropping Pouncey, just because he's done ok.

On the one hand, we won a superbowl with Hartwig at centre. We played a superbowl with Legursky at centre. But on the other hand, in the course of those games, both were exposed as weak links.

Going with 'ok' at centre rather than all-pro isn't necessarily an awful move, but if you've got an all-pro there, then you go with the all-pro.

 

His talent may be worth every penny, but if he cant stay on the field, he is useless to us. Unfortunately for him, he is injured more often than not- the fact that its not his fault or is in the wrong place, doesn't really matter. What matters is, he is hardly ever on the field.

 

To me a great player is not a disappointment because he could have been even greater if he hadn't been injured. And we aren't talking about a Bo Jackson or Gayle Sayers situation here. Pouncey has missed a lot of time, but he's played a lot, and there's no reason he couldn't return and have 5-7 more Pro Bowl seasons. And his injuries aren't even the type that could possibly be his fault, like Woodley's. Pouncey has just had horrific luck.

I completely disagree about Pouncey getting pushed around by physical NTs. Lest we forget the Big Snack days, those great NTs are simply not to be moved. That's their whole thing. The best you can do is control them, and Pouncey does well in my opinion. I also completely disagree about the success of those who have filled in for him. Legursky played decent for a backup, but the lack of glaring errors has more to do with the nature of the Center position than the ability of the guys playing. Wallace is a pretty big liability in pass protection, and offers no athleticism in the running game. He might do well in a straight up physical battle, but there's so much more to it. I'm not happy with him this year. Velasquez was a pleasant surprise to me; my take on his year here is that he did not become a liability the way Wallace has, but he also didn't benefit our team the way Pouncey does. That's not a complaint - in fact that's all I ask of a backup. Legursky did well for most of the Super Bowl, but was part of the game-altering Mendenhall fumble fiasco. His failed block was one of the dominoes that fell. David Johnson was worse, but Legursky got that mess started.

I think Pouncey offers something of a hidden benefit, and I'm glad we signed him to that contract. I'm not glad he's hurt.

 

And did anyone notice a difference in our running game last season? I did, and not just from Bell. Pouncey is a huge boost.

 

YES
but I'm also gonna add my rating for your post because, well, you should be used to it by now.

I was really hoping they would have traded him before the contract. A friend of mine wanted to draft M Bryant and work a trade with Pouncey
that year. I believe we COULD have gotten better value then w/o the overhead that we have now. Probably some damn good secondary help too.

 

It stinks to see great players cut down by injury... this may not be a popular opinion, but Troy P. missed a lot of time too. His legend could have been even greater. I think it was 2009 after we won a SB he had a career game against the Titans, but got hurt in that same game and wasn't the same the rest of the year, and really wasn't the same until he retired. He was poised to have a huge year and it got derailed.

 

Not sure anyone can evaluate our running game 2015 vs 2014 on an apples to apples comparison.... but if you may.... maybe if you squint in Bell's 6 games you can see a difference... I can't, but the stats show improved efficiency in 2015 over 2014... be it in RB's quality, OL play, or other factors. I'd call both years about equal in running effectiveness considering all other factors (like an injured Ben).

2015
Bell 4.9 ypc
Williams 5.0 ypc
Top 2 RB's had 220 carries and 1,090 yards YTD.... 4.95 YPC

2014
Bell 4.7 ypc
Blount 4.1 ypc
Top 2 RB's had 355 carries and 1,627 yards.... 4.58 YPC

 

I was talking more about from 2013 to 2014. I agree it's not exactly apples to apples this year, given Ben's injury especially.

 

Wallace has held his own. You never hear a peep about him. Is he the caliper of Pouncey? No. But, the line has been quite fine without him. Pouncey is the least of the issues and I would welcome him back. The issue lies can he stay healthy? Yes we all know the secondary needs attention which I hope gets taken care of this upcoming draft starting with a SS.

 

Don't get me wrong, I would welcome him back as well. The substance of the question is that the centers that have backed him up the last few years while he's been injured have seemed to perform above the line. None of them are Pouncey, but can we survive and thrive with a center making $2 - $3 million per season instead of one making $8 - $10 million per season who always seems to be on IR (not necessarily through any fault of his own)? We could then throw some serious money at a top flite CB in free agency and shore up the obvious weak link of our football team. And I'm a little confused, I'll readily admit that I'm not an "all 22" guy and don't watch and re-watch film, but our running game (with the exception of this past week) has been pretty dang good this year with Wallace at center and Ben's been getting an eternity to throw the ball for the most part. Wallace isn't the athletic freak that Pouncey is but he seems to be athletic enough. And I LOVE the guy's nasty attitude! I mean anyone willing to do THAT without a latex glove to try to get the ball away from an opposing player is okay in my book!!!

 

I definitely don't think that his play has been disappointing. The injuries certainly have though. Pouncey is great at blocking upfield and that is a great trait to have. I say there's no way they cut him next year. As far as I can remember, he's the only member of our line that has made a pro bowl since Cowher left. Am I wrong about that? Has DeCastro made one?

 

Dude just go stand in the corner for even MENTIONING Johnson! LOL! Man the mere sight of that dude used to make my blood pressure rise!

 

I think the better decision might be to cut Gilbert and then we will ALL be safer from friendly fire. LOL!

 

I'm going to end this debate right now! Ok, not really because everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I think I can add valuable insight to this topic. As some of you may recall my wife's cousin played in the NFL for 17 seasons, as a center no less. He and I have had a few conversations on the subject. I will provide you with his insight into this very topic. In his opinion, a center that does what Pouncey does is worth every penny (I'm sure he is a little biased as far as pay goes). He does those little things that not every center is willing or able to do. His ability to move to the next level or to pull is exceptional. He doesn't see Pouncey as "injury prone" but says it has more to do with how active he is inside the trenches. As for my own opinion, well, I see people on here comment about how much some of the back-ups have improved and comment on their potential for growth. I wonder why some of you don't give Pouncey the same consideration believing that he may come back stronger then ever and never have another injury? Something to think about.

 

Can't seem to stay on field. Not a superstar center.

 

I would trade Pouncey today for Nick Mangold even up.....