O-line development

Just throwing this question out there for those who might be more knowledgeable than I on this... With us going to a new zone system and having a new o-line coach this season, does this stunt any of the growth and steps that our young offensive lineman made last season? Just thinking Adams, DeCastro, Beachum were rookies last season.. They come to a team and start to learn a system, then have it all switched a year later. Does this stunt their growth in any way or am I just reading too much into things and looking for an excuse?

 

I don't know that it necessarily stunts the growth of these players, but any time you introduce something new it definitely will take some time getting used to. It could explain some of the "growing pains" of the OL in pre season and the first game though. It would be better to hold judgement of these guys till later in the season. If they aren't any better in week 15 than they are in week 2 though, I might get worried that its is the players and not the system change.

 

I think it does. This oline has been in influx for the past few years. With injuries, new coach, and a new scheme it will take a while before this group gets it together.

Remember, Max Starks was the only lineman to play all of the snaps last year.

 

I'm hoping Valesco looks good and we resign him and move pouncey to guard I think that will solve a lot of problems.

 

I'm hoping Pouncey comes back stronger than ever next year and we put valesco at guard and put Foster on the bench.

 

I think we have just added some more nasty to our interior. foster,velasco,decastro. follow suite tackles.

 

i still don't like foster at left , would be interesting to try decastro there

 

I agree but, I don't trust foster and gilbert on the same side right now.

 

infact adams should be the right tackle if we had somebody to play on the left ..beachum ??

 

i'm all for trying beachum there. he gave up zero sacks at LT in the preseason. with DD on that side, I think it could work. foster and adams on the right and velasco plugging the middle. why not?

 

pouncey has been injury prone since we got him

HINES

 

Yeah Pouncey, I don't know... I know he has just had some bad luck, but you got to count on guys being available, and he just never is....

 

To be fair. Yes Pouncey has had a lot of injuries that seem to be of a severe nature for most of them but he certainly would be starting tonight's game had DeCastro not put him on crutches.
I cannot count that in the injury prone category.

 

no, but now we have another injury to the legs which is pretty important to a lineman.

 

Has anyone notice any improvement?

From week one to week two it's been very little. They got an F+ against the Titans and I would give them a F- this week. Only because they gave up less sacks.

 

After 4 weeks, I've seen very little if any improvement from this bunch. Velesco gets a pass because he's only been on the team for two weeks but clearly the best of the group.

You have two 2nd round picks and one 1st round pick and it's worst then starting all undrafted free agents.

No knock on Beachum, but he's better than Gilbert and Foster.

Now, I know these guys are young and going to need time but the technique of Adams is terrible. And his twin brother (Gilbert) is just as bad. I would not expect them to this bad for 2nd round picks. And what does this say about our evaluators? Clearly, they had to see this but elected to pick them anyway in the 2nd round. Unbelieveable.

 

5859, I seriously doubt they thought "hey these dudes suck, lets take em in the 2nd!" they obviously saw something in these players that didn't pan out. Sometimes guys just dont turn out like they could have. This happens frequently in the NFL unfortunately. We've just enjoyed the success of drafting fairly well in the draft for the majority of the past 15 years. We just gotta do better in the future.

 

i dont buy into the rookie card. there are plenty of rookies that start on the oline for other teams and do just fine. look at the Bears. they have 2 rookies starting on their oline and the Steelers couldnt get a sack last week. i just think the guys the Steelers drafted are

A. slow learners

B. not going to pan out

C. being taught by bad coaches

im leaning towards C. these guys were all very good in college. i know college and the NFL are very different, but these guys have taken huge steps backwards since becoming Steelers.

 

i saw a change inside with beachum playing instaed of foster. everyone can say how he's not that great but everywhere he's played it's helped, big time.

i keep saying you have to draft to fit. we drafted two tackles in the 2nd round that came from programs with running qb's. their time in college was not full of pass protection. bad fits. just not good at it and don't have the footwork.

a big receiver or two that can fight for the ball and has a big range around him to grab balls that are not thrown on time or in a perfect spot would do much better for ben. he's not accurate and past his first read it's snadlot. two bigger guys he can see and allow him to be less accurate would help him alot.

we may be better next year with moye and justin brown playing and then add a couple of smaller guys that can get loose when it breaks down. brown and wheaton.

another good TE which is another big target for ben to be innaccurate with, but can outmuscle a defender for the ball. no use picking guys that run good routes because he can't get the ball to them when it should be there.

again all this adds up to picking guys that fit this team. pass blocking tackles and bigger targets for an innaccurate qb. a guard that can move and is not a right tackle being transformed into something he's not. another TE that can block and catch passes to team with heath. 5 players could fix alot of ills for this team. at least on offense. these players have to fit what we do.