Gilbert to G

I just read an article discussing a possible move for Gilbert to G, and then drafting an OT.

Thoughts?

http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2013/1/30/3935700/first-round-musings (under the OT section)

 

He has Gilbert at RG, so I figured he would have DeCastro moving to LG, but nope, he says if Colon and Foster aren't back Beachum is the starting LG?? Your 1st round stud guard from last year doesn't start??

 

I just meant in general the article got me thinking, what if they put a combination of DeCastro and Gilbert at G, Adams and a draft pick at T, and Beachum as the swing backup (also with a shot to beat out a draft pick for T)?

 

I've felt this would be the right move for awhile now. Gilbert is a slow-footed guy, I am highly surprised by the talk of him at LT and Adams at RT. To me, Adams will become a good LT in time. Yeah he has struggled, but he was just a rookie last year. He will get the hang of it soon enough...

To me Gilbert should be a guard/RT and should have to fight it out with Foster and Beachum for the RG/RT spot, while Decastro takes LG.

 

we shouldn't have to try and find a spot that a 2nd rounder can play and certainly not even question if a 7th rounder and an udfa should be in a camp fight with him.

 

Eh its just a fan article (like you and me writing)...just giving their opinions...definitely take it with a grain of salt. I know they talked about him being able to play G before as he did some in college. But I think he'll be fine at T.

 

...but let's face it...he didn't exactly jump off screen for his positive play. If the team is 8-8 Tomlin should go into camp where all players have to battle it out if they want to be the starter.

 

yes and there will be a lot of new faces ...

 

Does anyone know how many sacks he allowed this season before going on IR?

 

ithink the better question is, how many of our own players is he responsible for injuring.

 

i agree, there's alot more to the line then just sacks. he was pushed back and off balance alot last year. that alone effects other players on the line around him and the play in general.

it alters bens throws and his downfield vision. alot of the reason i talk about max's game too. it takes the eye's away which makes ben hold the ball longer trying to move away from pressure. it's not always a guy breaking away from our linemen for the sack. it alters the way other players do their jobs around them.

i will bring beachum up as a for instance too. when he got his first full start, they brought a TE and rb to that side to help him, thinking he would need it. it actually hurt him more then helped on most occasions, it took him off his man as they got in his way and it ended up neither completed the block.

there is only so much room each guy has to work with until it's counter productive for both, thats why stoutness at the point of attack is important. gilbert didn't show that much last year. basicly they used our own guys against each other.

 

I'm glad you guys realize there's a lot more to this than just sacks. Sacks can be a useful statistic sometimes, but mostly they are so dependant on the exact specific way that the sack took place, they are easily manipulated as a stat. It's one of the reasons I don't care that much about how many sacks our defense has. Yes, a pass rush is important. Sack stats aren't. If anyone has any statistics about the number of hurries he allowed in comparison with the rest of the league, I'm all ears for that too. But even then, a lot of things have to be taken into account. Who is opponent was, how much help he got, how long the QB was holding the ball... That's why I put much much more stock into grading. Unfortunately, I haven't done any this year, because it's just too painful. I might, as the offseason goes on and I get really starved for football, but so far I just can't turn on the games. I could do only the games we won, but then my grades would be skewed. And even those games aren't much fun to watch, knowing how the rest of the season went ...PFF does grades, but not only would I have to pay to see them, I rarely trust them. I looked around and didn't see anything else.

I think if we reflect on Gilbert's season accurately, it goes something like this:

1. (Summer) Hope that he will build off his strong rookie season and be very good.
2. (Preseason) Calls for his head on a stick after falling on two players, sending them to IR.
3. (Regular season) Silence, because people couldn't complain, or didn't remember to complain, because he disappeared come game time, which is exactly what you want from an OT. It's like not noticing a cornerback for a whole game. It means they're doing their job.

Don't get me wrong, falling on three guys (including Pouncey against Tenn) and causing three injuries is no small thing, but I think it's more fluke than anything else. A lot of people around here said, "It's because he keeps getting flattened and pushed around by defenders. That makes him fall down on our guys. If he was a better blocker, that wouldn't happen." If you look at the tape, only one of them (DeCastro) is even arguably his fault, or a result of his play. And after studying it again, even that one wasn't that bad. He was trying to push Mario Williams past the pocket, and was doing an okay job of it, although he was a closer than he should have been. Williams would not have sacked Ben. Gilbert was part of the issue, but DeCastro himself was the other part. He was blown back by (Dareus?) and was way farther back than he should have been. Neither guy did a great job on the play, but it looked to me like DeCastro was in Gilbert's territory, not the other way around.

As for the other injuries, David Johnson's was a result of Gilbert's man fighting him long after the ball had been thrown. Gilbert was backing up to get away and still getting pushed, and tripped over Ramon Foster, who was lying on the ground. It was three-stoogesque. I'm not sure we should want him to do something different there. How should he have played that differently? Hold his ground as if the play was still going on, and just keep blocking until the refs split them up, on the off chance that his teammates are lined up behind him like perfectly positioned, IR-sending dominoes? The Pouncey injury was a result of the defender getting knocked to his ass by Will Johnson, and then desperately trying to make something out of it by literally diving towards Ben, cutting the knees out from Gilbert. It was like a cut block, and is never expected from a defensive end, and would be ruled a win for Gilbert. Unfortunately, as he fell on top of the defender, he also fell on Pouncey.

I mean, it would be nice if he had better balance and awareness of his body, but the fact is that it's unfair to blame him for those injuries, and he's been blocking relatively well for us since he got here. Especially in the passing game. It's his run blocking that needs work. I think he'd do fine at OG, but I also think he's doing fine at OT, and that's what we need more, especially long term. And that's where his experience is.

 

Our Ol in general needs to go to the weight room
and work their azzes off to get stronger and to work
on there agility. I am serious when I say I want all my
OL to be able to bench press 250lbs/35 times before you show
up at St Vincents.(Peazy a LB could do 37 reps) There is no reason why MASSIVE men like these
guys cannot do this. If they can't, I want to know why.
The Steelers have invested LOTS of money in these players,
don't you think it is about time for these investments to pay off?
Surely these OL coaches work on technique and foot agility why aren't we seeing
this on the field? If I am the Rooney's I am asking KC & MT why?
Art II has said in the past he wants his 102 million dollar QB to TAKE less hits.
Well our 102 million dollar QB has been put out of multiple games for 2 seasons in a row.
Questions need answered, don't you think?

 

I won't quote all of the post, but this is bang on the money.

What I can't tell with these comments about Gilbert is whether they are reasoned suggestions, or whether he's going to become yet another Mendenhall or Wallace where, whatever he does, he gets blamed for something or other.

We don't need to draft linemen early, on either side of the ball. We need consistency in the line. Moving players around into different positions won't achieve that.

 

he was getting thrown around and pushed around from preseason on last year. it was plain as day. he needs to be stronger at the point and hold his ground better. no way a 270lb. guy should throw around a 330 lb. OT. out quick him maybe, but not bullrushing. that's the reason he fell on other players.

he wasen't alone either. they need to get in the weight room. i'm hoping they stay young up front and pouncey does just that and brings this unit together to want to work hard on that part of their game.

max and essex and colon and kemoeatu were never workout warriors and were known to be lazy in that aspect of their training. it was very evident with the increasing bellys during the season. max came in a svelt as i had ever seen him last year because he worked in the offseason during his rehab, then like usual he started putting the weight on and his game started to suffer.

start these new young guys off right and don't follow the lack of leadership that some of these vets showed prior to this exodus. that's what i'm hoping for. if you remember back to gilberts rookie year, he started off very slow and pouncey had to get on his butt about it being a fellow gator and he had a good rookie year after that. that's what i'd like to see from the young guns moving forward. they all could use it. if they do i think we could have a very good line for years to come. the pieces are in place.

 

That's simply not true, mac. Not for any of the injuries he "caused." The DeCastro injury was the only one where he deserves even partial blame, and he didn't get knocked down by anybody. He was chasing after Williams, and then ran into DeCastro, which is what made them both fall. And like I said above, although Gilbert was too close to the pocket, DeCastro was even closer. He shouldn't have been there. The Johnson one (not only did our team a favor, but also) was well after the play had left the pocket and everyone was standing around, and the Pouncey one was something no one could have stopped and was a win for Gilbert. It's all on tape.

 

I don't think the oline needs to work on bench press....if anything squats or any drill that gives them better hip flexing ability to get better leverage.

I don't think the slow-footed guys will cut it any more here, Decastro and Pouncey are the future....

 

i didn't say he was knocked down. he was pushed back. so was DD.

gilbert gets pushed back into other guys blocking areas. they are engaged and he gets pushed over other blockers legs. the defense basicly used our own line against each other. stacking them overtop of each other. just like you said to close to the pocket. that's what i'm talking about with our tackles, they are pushed back alot closing up the pocket where there is alot of legs to fall over.

it's simple, they need to hold their ground better. they are huge men, they shouldn't get pushed back as easily as they do. i'm also not saying it happens every play, but way to often. that's lack of stregnth.