Wide 9 and defending Adams

I look forward to it..lOL

 

As long as you understand that I was being sarcastic, and when it happens, I won't really have been wrong.

 

Fair enough...

 

Listen HughSnack, I agree with you 100% about Adams stinking up the joint, I get that. However look at what you said:

-Mike Adams is a rookie player that we knew had lots of talent but was probably not pro-ready and would need refinement.
-Mike Adams was playing in his very first NFL action ever, and mistakes -- even a crappy game -- were to be expected.
-Mike Adams was going against an unusual scheme that places more stress than normal on an OT in the pass rush.

Now, first of all, Tomlin has said from the beginning that they were going to put them in certain situations just to see what they would do. Thats exceptable because the Eagles game was just such a situation. They knew that it was going to be tough for him in his first nfl action. In your post you spelled it out for everyone to see. I don't give him a pass on his performance, nor do I give him an excuse for his performance, however, I am still in his corner and stand by their decision to name him the starter. He should still be the starter because he is better then Essex and Foster, even as a rookie, plus you can't lose your job because of an injury, Tomlin always said that. If you want to give him any credit, its the fact that just what you said, he is a rookie in his first nfl game playing the hardest position on the O-Line, left tackle, going against a very tough D-Line scheme. What I saw was a young rookie LT playing in his very first nfl game, who was indecisive about things, alittle timid, unsure, alot of jitters, and worrying about making mistakes. He's going to learn from that experience. Now he knows what to expect and will be ready!

The only thing I can say is I wish he had not gotten hurt so that we could have seen more of him. I believe he would have gotten better in that game. Coach Kugs would have been coaching him up on the sidelines. He would have shown improvement in the game. We didn't see enough of him. What he must do now is get healthy and get back out their for the third pre-season game, and the last pre-season game. That will make him ready for the season operner at Denver as the starter. He is the best choice. He is definently better then Foster, Essex, and Starks. Why, because Foster and Essex didn't show me anything in the Eagles game. They were just as bad as Adams. No excuse for them because they are veterans and they stunk the joint up for real! As far as all this Starks talk, I'm not impressed with him. He is on the PUP and not ready. He said that himself. He probably won't play in the pre-season. He is old and injury prone and probably won't last the whole season anyway. Give me the youthful Adams with the good feet, and long arms. Put him in the fire and let him learn while doing it, on the job training. Like most of the other teams do, they put their rookies out their! I think that is a better choice then the heavier, old, injury prone Starks. I think the Steelers will do better if they sign a veteran LT who gets cut during the last cuts in the league rather then rely on Starks. He is just a stop gap at this point in his career. People will see when he gets out their that he is not the one, and not a starter, and that Adams is the better choice.

You said yourself that he has good feet and long arms and will be able to get out their to block those speed rushers!

 

Amen Brother, enough is enough. As our famous Coach T says its all on tape.
As the Emperor use to say, football is not a difficult game you block and you tackle.
Basics my friend basics. Can you beat the man standing across from you?

 

Craig Wolfley argued rather adamantly that it was the Eagles' scheme that caused the problems. The Steelers did little to no planning for that. Tunch agreed, I believe. So I wuldn't put a whole lot of stock in that result. But it is a shame that Adams came out of it with a knee injury.

 

Snack, I was a little confused on what you were trying to explain. Are you saying that Adams didn't do well because of the confusing scheme or he didn't do well because he was a rookie or because he was just bad? Could you re-type what you originally typed so that I might better understand it? (I better note that I am being sarcastic here) Actually, I think you have it about right, and, at the same time, I think PWP is tyring, to a degree, to say the same thing. Yes, it is a confusing scheme but there are OT's out there that can handle it...it's not impossible!

 

I knew you were kidding because it's you, but there are plenty of people that still don't get it after all that. They think there are two sides: you're with Adams or you're aggin'im. And if you say he played bad, you're aggin'im.

 

I feel like you're trying to use my own words against me, but it's not really against me because I already thought those things. I did not make the case that Adams shouldn't start. I just made the case that he sucked last Thursday because we had people saying (with a straight face) that he did as well as anyone could have and everything bad that happened wasn't his fault. I also think the injury is the worst part, because I want him competing with Starks for the job. There's no question that Essex and Foster are not contenders for the LT job. But if Starks is healthy, he is. It's true that Starks is coming off an injury, and he had a few bad games last year, but for the majority of last season he was a very reliable blind side protector. That's not something we should forget. It's very possible Adams will get over his jitters, get his stuff together, and play very well in the rest of preseason and camp, and earn the starting job. It's also possible he'll stink again in the next game, and the game after that. If that happens, and if Starks is looking good, you have to go with him until Adams is ready. You can't have Adams repeating the kind of performance he had against Philadelphia in Denver.

All I want is an open competition between the two. I really don't understand either side that wants one guy proclaimed starter right now... we've only seen a handful of plays from one injured dude, and zero plays from the other. Let's let it play out a bit.

 

Still think as others Adams played a decent game given the circumstances. The wide 9 scheme was not even considered in this preseason game. I dont believe they did much preparation for this game but you can be assured they will for the next meeting which I believe is in wk 5? You have to slow down the speed rush coming of the end and I never saw any rb chips or TEs blocking or anything so Adams was on an island.

 

I'm all for the open competition and that goes for any position. Yes, I know everyone has their favorite player but the best guy needs to be the one on the field helping the STEELERS. I really liked Sweed when they drafted him, was all for him even when he wasn't making progress and, in the end, I'm glad he's where he is and we have who we have (this is after several months of therapy over the guy). Concerning the Wide 9 and whether we were prepared for it or not (and how it relates to Adam's play), does it really matter. If you believe that the Eagles did anything other than play just as vinilla as we did you are kidding yourself. You can explain how hard it is to block in a Wide 9, tell me how you have coached it, coached against it, schemed to beat it, played in it or, even, created it and I don't really care. Funny, I hear people talk about how complicated aspects of the game are and then turn around and get on a player (i.e. Troy and his tackling) for not sticking to the basics. The basics...hitting, running, throwing, tackling, catching and blocking! If I am forgetting a "basic" let me know. In the end it was Adams job to block. He didn't block as well as he should have and not close to what he may be capable of, period. Good/bad doesn't really matter. What matters is where he is in a week, 2 weeks, a month, the end of the season. I am hoping he is the best thing since sliced bread at some point but wont cry if Starks is playing because he is better!