DeCastro's Injury

I'm just trying to look on the bright side. Yes, he is the new golden boy of our OL, the next Alan Faneca, the protector of QBs and demolisher of defenders large and small that will rain terror upon the league for the next decade or so. And we'll (probably, assuming he tore his ACL/MCL) have to wait a whole year before that can begin. We're all frustrated about that, probably no one moreso than David. But I thought you might like to hear some of the things my brain came up with in order to keep me from jumping off the roof when I heard the news:

-Ramon Foster played better than he got credit for in 2011, and RG is his best position. Stands to reason after getting so much experience last year he'll be even better this year. He has his issues and isn't mobile like David, but the dude can push people around as well as anyone. And if I was scorekeeper I'd give him 2.5 out of the 6 on Redman's touchdown tonight.

-Let's not sleep on the other tremendous and more polished addition to our line, Willie Colon. He's been playing great ever since landing at the LG spot and it's looking like all of our "put Colon at guard and he'll be way better" fan fiction is about to come true. This is a massive, massive upgrade from the black hole named Kemoeatu.

-I haven't seen the Bills game yet, but it looked like Starks was doing alright from the bits I did see. If he can hold down the fort, and if Adams can eventually surpass him, we'll be as good or better at LT than we were a year ago. Adams certainly seems to be a force in blocking the run.

-Will Johnson is already vastly superior to David Johnson in every single way. This is a bigger deal than a lot of people realize. The block made at the point of attack is of critical importance. Why do I always say Ray Lewis is overrated? Because he could never do squat against us if Dan Kreider was on the field.

-People are really riding Gilbert, and he's looked bad so far, but the truth is he was satisfactory as a rookie and now he's in his second year. And he had an offseason. The kid is still going through growing pains and awkward stages, but he should be better in 2012 than he was in 2011. And he's faced some really tough competition this preseason.


The bottom line is, even without David DeCastro, our OL will be much better than a year ago. This injury delays his progress by a year and hurts our depth should another injury occur. But Foster's an experienced vet at this point and DeCastro was going to have growing pains. Yes, Foster is probably average, and DeCastro would probably play better than that and will be miles and miles better in his second year, but I'm not so convinced that 2012 DeCastro was going to be a whole lot better than 2012 Ramon Foster.

Ok, that last part might be a stretch, but it's possible and we'll never know for sure. Adams will get better. We still have Haley in our corner, and I believe he'll handle adversity and make adjustments better than Arians. There are things to feel positive about.

 

Re: DeCastro's Injury Not End of World

Yeah, if DeCastro is out for the year . . . it is what it is.

He was admittedly having a hard time against NFL talent in camp. Like Faneca, it would probably have helped him to be an understudy for a year as a rookie.

Foster is probably a better lineman at this point.

I've gotta agree that it sucks, but it's not the end of the world.

 

Re: DeCastro's Injury Not End of World

I agree with all of this. DeCastro is a rookie - with lots of good years ahead of him on this O-line. While we all wanted to see an All-Pro season from our first round draft pick this season, we'll have to settle for All-Pro performances from him from years 2 through retirement. This is a good football team with or without him and it'll just be up to the coaches and FO to prepare the 53 who suit up each week to win a football game. I'm pretty sure they can do that a lot this season and get DeCastro rehabbed and ready to contribute at a high level next year. The O-line has already been upgraded with Adams. He has struggled, but he'll get it. So, the offense should be better with Haley calling the plays and a better O-line. Then we upgrade again next year when DeCastro comes back, perhaps even with ANOTHER highly drafted lineman alongside him.

The glass is half full here - and I just want Sept. 9 to come.

 

Re: DeCastro's Injury Not End of World

Hugh Snack, I have to agree with you on most of your post. Foster might be better at this point, at least starting out, however I feel that DeCastro would have been better then Foster as the season went along. Now we will never know. But looking on the bright side of things, next year, DeCastro will be bigger and stronger, especially stronger because he will have a whold year to rehab, lift, and gain weight. He will be better for it. He stated himself early in camp that he was having a tough time with the physical part of the game. Even with what happened to him in the Bills game, he was bent over by D-Lineman Marcel Darious. Darious is a big strong guy who probably over powered DeCastro. I see DeCastro coming back next year with a vengence because he will be more physically ready to play the position.

As far as Foster and Colon are concerned, they will have to get better at what they do. In the Bills game, they show a play down at the goal line where the Bills put pressure from the middle on Big Ben from the inside with their two Defensive Tackles being blocked by Colon and Foster. Those two tackles from the Bills squeezed the pocket down on Ben and sacked him. In the play you could see Colon and Foster trying to block those two big tackles but not being able to keep them off of Ben. The comentator said that the Steelers guards must keep the pressure off of Ben if the Steelers are going to be successful in the passing game. To tell you the truth, it just can't happen, they must keep ben clean.

Also, the situation with our tackles should get better. Gilbert should remain at right tackle so that they can be solid at that position. Starks for the time being should start at left tackle. I now submit to that because this will give Adams time to get the position down. He should get better by the second half of the season and replace Starks as thte starter. That give him eight games to get it right. so, the starting line should look like this: Adams LT, Colon LG, Pouncey C, Foster RG, Gilbert RT. Adams should replace Starks by the second half of the season. Starks then would become the swing tackle.

My prayers and best wishes go out to DeCastro, hoping for a speedy recovery and an All-Pro second season!

 

Re: DeCastro's Injury Not End of World

I pretty much agree Snack. The weak link right now is the OT's. Gilbert is really struggling so far and Max is up to his old shenanigans. I just saw bits and pieces last night on NFL network and at least from what I saw there, Max looked very much below average. On one rush from Barnett, Max didnt even look at him and got Ben smacked. How do you not even look at Barnett??? I hope Adams comes along quickly because I'm sick and tired of Ben's weak side being protected by this big slow blind lug. It is a crying effing shame that Starks is the best we can do on Ben's blind side for so many years now. A real shame. Just because a guy is big and has long arms, doesn't mean he'll be worth a sh*t as an NFL LT.

 

Re: DeCastro's Injury Not End of World

Sorry but I don't see where the O-line has showed in the preseason that it is any better than last year with or without DD. Look at the rushing numbers in the first half of yesterdays game. Bad pass blocking, poor running yardage, lots of passs plays - looks like we are still playing BA Ball to me.

 

Re: DeCastro's Injury Not End of World

As far as Sraks is concerned, they did show one play where Starks went inside to block and left the outside guy get a free shot at Ben. I don't know why Starks didn't stop the outside guy first?

I'm also pissed because the NFL Netowrk is not showing the game until Monday at 4:oopm. They are showing so other games twice before they show the Steelers game.

 

Re: DeCastro's Injury Not End of World

does the knox in your name come from knoxville like in knoxville tennessee? if so you might just have a problem with GATORS

 

Re: DeCastro's Injury Not End of World

Since when has ANYTHING that happens in preseason been an indicator of regular season play. I just happen to have the opinion that our line has been upgraded with or without DD. Will it be a strength now that he's gone? Probably not - but we'll just have to go through another season of complaining about it until next year. Maybe they pick up an aging cast-off who will be servicable for the year - maybe the current bunch will step up. Whatever the case, I think we're a better team on Offense than we were last year, despite DD's injury.

 

Re: DeCastro's Injury Not End of World

I'm beginning to think you're championing of Will Johnson is an effort to replicate PWP's Redman-thing.

(Not that I disagree on his superiority to Johnson, mind.)

 

Re: Replay of David DeCastro's Injury

Slightly off topic, but didn't get to see the game last night, and I do have to ask - are these replacement commentators to go along with the replacement refs? They're terrible.

 

Re: DeCastro's Injury Not End of World

O line deficiencies can be somewhat off-set by passes to backs and quicker drops. Haley seems to get that concept so as long as Ben doesn't hold onto the ball too long the O line woes can be overcome.

 

Re: DeCastro's Injury Not End of World

i have to agree about the LT situation. colon is not lighting it up either. a guy came between max and colon last night and smacked ben untouched. they have to bring heath over there and a back sometimes to counter max. heck one play you would have thought heath was the LT because he blocked the outside rusher one on one and max touched nobody. this takes heath and sometimes a RB away from their other duties. gilbert gets manhandled far to much for his size. we can't throw down the field because there isn't time for the patterns to develop. they all need to get much better. DD is a major hit, but as snack said foster is playing some decent ball. i, so far am very disappointed with what i thought was going to be a very good line this year. i hope they get it together soon because it's hurting the flow of the offense.

 

Re: DeCastro's Injury Not End of World

I agree, I was counting on a the new offenseive scheme to help with protection a lot more than the new players. Not downplaying the loss of DeCastro, I was looking forward to watching him develop this year.

 

Re: DeCastro's Injury Not End of World

The football world doesnt end because Dcastro is done for the season before it even starts, if he uses his rehab and free time wisely and attends all of the Oline practice sessions, and classroom strategy and technique coaching sessions he will be better prepared for next year than he is now, so this could payoff for him if he uses this time to his advantage. After watching Starks yesterday, he still gets punked by the quicker pass rushers, he got whiffed on one play and gave up a free shot on Ben, i'm not a Stark fan, he never improves he just stays the same, a B level player in my view. And whats Adams problem????

 

Re: DeCastro's Injury Not End of World

Yes. It's not that I hate him personally, I just hate that the team and many fans were satisfied with him. He did nothing. No matter what he was listed as, he was mostly used as a blocking fullback, and he sucked at it! Then we had the stupid coaching staff come out and say he's not a fullback and we don't have one and don't use one. You can call Willie Colon a free safety and say we play without a left guard, but it doesn't make it true.

I'm all for FBs that suck at running and catching, because I place 95% of their importance on lead blocking, but DJ was horrible at that. A lot of fans and Dale Lolley rush to his defense saying stuff like, "I saw him make a good one today" or "He was in the game for one of our touchdowns" or "He misses some but he makes some too" like any of those are a valid defense. Even in my evaluation he wound up with 10 more positive plays than negative. But that's horrible. What if Pouncey made 20 good pass blocks per game, but also allowed 18 sacks per game? Would we talk about all the good plays he made?

I wanted them to bring in an experienced lead blocker who knew what he was doing, because they have tried converting guys from other positions several times before, and each time that guy has sucked and not gotten better (Carey Davis, David Johnson, Frank Summers -- although Summers was not given time to improve). I knew Will Johnson would be an upgrade from David immediately because even if he couldn't block, at least he could do other stuff. His athleticism and receiving skills got him signed immediately after a workout in the spring. But I was still unhappy because it seemed to fit the pattern of trying to teach lead blocking to someone who'd never done it. We're 0 for 3 so far. But looks like Will can do it. I don't know if they knew this would happen or they just lucked out finally, but he looks like he can do it. So I love him, just because he appears to be doing a serviceable job at a position that has been out of service since Bill Cowher was here. Now, I must be careful not to fall into the PWP trap... although if I really wanted to I could do that with Rainey, who I recommended pre-draft. I'd technically have PWP beat, since I think he didn't start his Redman movement until after he was on the team... I have no interest in turning Rainey into a folk hero that rides a blue ox, but I will make an effort not to "I told you so."


Back to the topic, I just read a report that said DeCastro tore his MCL, and the results for his ACL aren't in yet. If it's just the MCL he could come back later in the year. But... I don't think that will be the case.

 

Re: DeCastro's Injury Not End of World

espn is reporting that it is a MCL tear but not sure about ACL. If only MCL, he might only miss half the season. If MCL and ACL, he's out the entire year. I hope it's only the MCL and be ready to contribute at mid season. Go DeCastro.

 

decastro

his acl is fine mcl is torn should be out no more then 8 weeks cant post links from my tablet seen it on espn.com

 

Re: decastro

DeCastro Has Dislocated Knee Cap, Torn MCL & Patellar Tendon Damage