Willie Colon having a good camp

Since being moved to guard he has been impressive so far fwiw according to his teammates and coaches. I just want the guy to stay healthy after signing that big contract a few years ago he has missed the last 2 seasons. He is a better fit for guard because he is built more for that position than tackle they say he is a mauler and has a nasty streak, maybe it translates to the Steelers having a better running game.

 

willie is a bull. the only bad thing i have heard is his quickness is lacking getting out in front of plays. willie will be and is a leader and will help keep the intensity up among these linemen. i heard he hurt his ankle fri. night.

 

He does not typically do well in space at all, which is why he struggled in pass protection on the edge so much early in his career. He also typically was ineffective when leading a draw or something and he had to run out in space. He's pretty slow and not very quick...

That said, he had very little opportunity to do that kind of stuff in games, and I assume just as little during practice. He didn't do much pulling, either. It figures to be his weak spot, especially compared to DeCastro, but I think what he has going for him is inexperience. He will only get better, and he will absolutely do better than Kemo when it comes to running, and better than Kemo and Legursky once he actually locks onto a defender. The question is what percentage of the time he'll be able to lock on. In any case, we'll be looking at an improvement from last year.

Frankly, I'm so pickled tink at the fact that we have two guards who can block at all, the idea that we have one guard who will be great in space and one that is questionable seems like fantastic news, and not worth complaining about. And to think it could turn out even better than that.

 

Amen.

Hopefull Colon punching Heyward on the helmet isn't a sign of the kind of interpretation of 'play through the whistle' that Kemo had. I doubt it though - Colon has always come across as a good leader of the line.

 

Was listening to Surius NFL and heard Pat Kerwin and Tim Ryan talking about him. They said they saw him bullrush Timmons, pick him up off the ground, threw him into his back and then smashed him with a forearm. I love it! That's what I want to see from our Oline, guys that can dominate and guys that play nasty.

Tim and Pat both said they expect the Steelers to control the line on both sides of the ball this year, unlike last year.

I'm so excited for this season. I can't wait!

 

I read more than one report that Colon punched Adams, not Heyward. Including the one on the Steelers website. I also read more than one report that it was Heyward, not Adams, so it's definitely not clear either way. But I think it's possible it was a "Hey, break it up guys. Adams, what the #@%*& are you doing?" Heyward's the one with a year of experience, and it just seems more likely to me that Colon would punch someone on his side of the ball to teach him a lesson, as opposed to punching a defender to advance a fight further.

Edit: I guess I was wrong. The Teresa Varley article has changed the victim of the punch from Adams to Heyward. Guess he punched Cam after all. Good decision by Cam to not punch back.

 

I like them getting all chippy up to a point, but punching and it starting to happen on a regular basis is more than I am comfortable with between our own players. Maybe Colon is trying to let everyone know he's back and cooking at this BBQ after a few years away. I want them to be physical and under control. Rememeber, there was a time when Colon was a flag magnet when not poised and focused in the moment.

Even big hits seem stupid on a team level like Ike supposedly leveled on someone. Even if it's a guy who won't make the team because you never know how paybacks come around.

It is nice to hear about this O-line playing with something to prove though. And we all know that Snack is happy his boy Colon is making noise as he predicted. I have to say Snacky, I was in doubt but, Willie's play and your assessment of it are zipping a few mouths. I'd rather you be right and people like me be wrong if it benefits the team. (In Borat voice) HIGH FIVE!!!

 

Haha, for the most part I cannot remember at all who was on what side of what, but it's very big of you to come out and say it. If I'm ever wrong someday (ha!) I'll do the same.

 

Double Edit: apparently the other place I read that it was Adams he swung at and not Heyward was from Dale Lolley, with whom I have documented issues with, because accuracy is not something he strives for. That pretty much clinches that it was Heyward.

 

Is Willie having a good camp or does he just get the trophy for most fights in camp?

He better be able to pull this year, and he better not cause us a lot of penalties...

 

this is a dog eat dog camp for alot of players fighting for an open spot. good competition going on. essex and foster want spots too, as do some young guys. nobody is going to give it up very easily. johnson and johnson. dwyer and clay. every wr, besides our big 3. TE's not named heath. LB'ers. CB's. safeties not named troy and clark. punters even. good healthy cometition makes for some bad attitudes, which is a good thing if you're not involved. ya gotta love it.

 

I love mean and nasty offensive linemen. I hope colon's nastiness is contagious. But no stupid penalties like kemo.

 

By all accounts he's not only playing nasty and setting that tone for the youngsters, but he's in great shape, fully recovered from injuries, and playing very well. I've also heard from a lot of places that -- as we fans predicted (we are wrong about a lot, so let us bask in this for many years -- he is fitting in as a complete natural at guard, and he could have his best season as a pro in 2012.

I'm not at all worried about this, for one big reason: he has never been the type to lose his cool on the field or draw "that type" of penalty. He is a nasty guy who likes to kick ass, but he's not a bonehead that doesn't understand when plays end like Kemo. He's also not a dirty player that draws penalties because he just doesn't care and would rather punch a guy. Doing it in camp is completely different. I'd go so far as to say it's calculated. He is taking on a leadership role, and that's okay. It won't carry over into games, and I doubt it will carry over for the youngsters like Adams because they'll be afraid Willie will punch them if it does.

He did have a tendancy for stupid penalties, but they were pretty much all the same type of penalty: flase start and lining up too far back from the line of scrimmage. One of them will be erased by his move to guard, the other will be helped immensely, and I could be wrong, but I thought he had cleaned himself up with those in his most recent season. That's definitely when his blocking got better. The other type of penalty he struggles with is holding, but that's in a different land entirely. That's more to do with blocking than anything mental, and it will also be helped a lot by a move to guard.

Of course.

 

One good things regarding his health, guards get hurt much less often than tackles.

 

A couple years ago a Steelers coach said Colon would not make a good guard because he wasn't any good at pulling. And it wasn't BA who said it, I think. So what happened: Did he suddenly get better at pulling, was the coach who said this wrong, or is Colon going to be lousy at pulling?

 

#2 ....

 

it's showing in camp jeh. that doesn't mean he won't be a good guard though. there is alot more to it then people think. pulling on a run play is easier for a slower guy then getting outside and blocking for a screen or swing pass. it's alot closer for one thing. when colon gets to that point on a pull to trap a guy thats wondered into the backfield and has the runner in his sights, is the easy part. it's when that guy isn't there and he has to turn it upfield and make a block is where trouble begins. kemo sucked azz at this. it used to drive me nuts when people would say he pulled so well because he made that trap block on a guy, but couldn't beat the rb to the hole and lead block for him. they wonder why mendy danced. it's because kemo had his dumb azz in the hole taking up the hole. we didn't run it the other way because max wasen't a good run blocker to that side. those two hurt our run game more then anything. will willie help? we shall see, but until the footwork gets to where it's second nature to him, he may struggle. he's never going to be that nimble type guard that we should have there. i said before his move was made that willie would be better served at RG.


i still believe that. DD is nimble enough to pull from left to right and turn it up into the hole and he can also get out to lead the pass plays. nimble quick and strong is why pouncey is so good. these preseason games will tell alot. i like to watch the line. i can tell you where the play is going by watching the line. to know these guys true worth you have to watch them the whole game. not just a few plays. it's hard to do because you want to follow that ball around. if we lined it up and bulldozed, willie's our man. blocking down and sealing off? willie's our man. pulling and leading? DD is our man.

 

Very true... Decastro can pull rather than Colon, and what about Pouncey? Dude is in the second level before you know it???

 

I like as well that Colon is nasty and seems to play with a chip on his shoulder. My only worry is this kind of play will translate into penalites

 

Actually, I think it's all three. Colon was a tackle who pulled -- or did something like pulling -- like five times a season. Saying he's no good at pulling back then was like saying he's no good at foosball. How the hell would you know? You can make an educated guess based on how he performs in space and how fast he is, but if you ask me that was just a copout to keep him at tackle for some mysterious reason. He's not that fast and has a history of struggling in space, so it's reasonable to expect him to not be good at pulling. But he's also a beast once he locks onto you, so if he can get a hang of the footwork and balance, he could be plenty serviceable at it.

So yeah, all three. I think he is getting better at pulling (because now he can actually practice it), the coach who said it was intentionally talking out of his ass to shut up the media and fans, and he also won't be that good anyway.

 

http://search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A0oG7icT ... le-493968/ this wasen't his first time. he was tried at center and guard before. this may be where the coach saw him pull or try to before.

 

Meh. It doesn't say when it happened. It was probably his rookie training camp. Anyway, I never said he never pulled. He pulled occasionally as a tackle, on toss plays and traps. My point was that he had nowhere near the experience doing it as someone who has really played guard. Even with perhaps a few reps in his rookie training camp, before this offseason he'd probably pulled about as much as our punter tackled.

 

the 2007 camp it says. i remember them doing it with him. max was the lackluster RT the prior two years, and that was the camp colon took the job from him. max sat that year to start the year and marvel was still LT. colons second year.

i still think he belongs at RG and DD at LG. it could still happen. just like we used to throw the first year tackle to the rightside first, they are doing the same with DD until he gets comfy with the speed and learns. with willie being a vet he's played against the speed and has put in enough time that switching sides would be easier for him then for DD. i could see this as their thought process. noway they put two rookies on bens blindside right out of the gate either. not gonna happen.

 

the 2007 camp it says. i remember them doing it with him. max was the lackluster RT the prior two years, and that was the camp colon took the job from him. max sat that year to start the year and marvel was still LT. colons second year.

i still think he belongs at RG and DD at LG. it could still happen. just like we used to throw the first year tackle to the rightside first, they are doing the same with DD until he gets comfy with the speed and learns. with willie being a vet he's played against the speed and has put in enough time that switching sides would be easier for him then for DD. i could see this as their thought process. noway they put two rookies on bens blindside right out of the gate either. not gonna happen. [/quote:3w0zgyms]
The article is from 2007, but the quote only says that he has practiced at center and guard at some point in the past, it doesn't say when or how much. 2007 was the year Willie unseated Max at RT. Was that also the same year they had him practicing center and guard? Maybe, but it seems more plausible to me that it happened as a rookie when they were looking for a roster spot for him, as opposed to when he'd already replaced Starks at RT for a couple games the year before and was looking to keep that position for good. Why are we even talking about this?