Tunch: Munchak Will Make Steelers Linemen ‘Nastier’

There’s been a lot of talk recently about what recently hired offensive line coach Mike Munchak will be able to do for the Steelers young linemen. Former Steelers offensive tackle Tunch Ilkin recently spoke with Bob Labriola about how he thinks the new coach can elevate the play of the young offensive line.

Ilkin describes Munchak as “an old friend”, who he’s known for 30 years. The two were linemen for division rivals, and never lined up against each other, but met at the Pro Bowl in 1988. Tunch said they traded helmets there, and he’s kept Munchak’s on his shelf ever since.

He describes the former Oilers guard’s style of play as “physical, and nasty”. “He would get after it, wouldn’t back down, just one of those tough guys you would love to have on your side.”, said Ilkin. According to Tunch, the Titans offensive line that Munchak coached was “a nasty bunch”.

…those offensive lines could run the outside-zone and they also could come off the line and straight-block. They could do both, and if you can do both you really have something.

Tunch thinks the Steelers offensive line is “going to get after it”, and Munchak is going to make them nastier.  “The guys are going to be even a little bit nastier than they’ve been in the past, because that’s the way Mike is.”

Ilkin broke down how he thinks some of the Steelers linemen will benefit from their new coach. “He’ll make Marcus [Gilbert] more consistent, because if I was Marcus I’d want to improve upon my consistency,” said Ilkin. “That’s the area where Mike will help Marcus really grow: being more consistent and taking his craft to the next level.”

On Mike Adams, he thinks Munchak will teach him how to be a pro. Ilkin said, “He’ll teach Adams how to prepare. He’ll teach Mike Adams how to get more out of himself than maybe even Mike Adams would think was there.”

The other two who he thinks will benefit from Mike Munchak’s coaching are David DeCastro and Kelvin Beachum. Tunch thinks he’ll be able to teach them both nuances of the game that they haven’t acquired yet due to their youth.

In the next article, we’ll take a quick look at how Munchak’s lines have preformed compared to the Steelers’ lines. Later down the road, we’ll look at some x’s and o’s of Munchak’s offensive lines.