Steelers OLine - Walmart Approach

The Steelers OLine is like the Walmart approach to checkout. They got rid of the cashiers and went to all self-service lanes. The opposing defenses are simply simply skipping the long checkout line for a live person and going through the self-service lane for quicker checkout and QB sacks.

 

I don’t get this analogy at all.

 

The oline needs an Offensive Coordinator, one that gets everyone on the same page.

 

My brain hurts

 

He's saying that he likes to shop at Walmart and use the self check out lines. Other than that, I got nothing out of it either.

 

Poor analogy, but I think the point is that they have under-invested in the offensive line to the detriment of the team.

Steelers are rock bottom in terms of active spending on the offensive line
https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/positional/offensive-line/
Taking a running back and then a tight end with your first two draft picks while ignoring fundamental issues with your offensive line is very risky. They did nothing in free agency to address the problem either, spending money on Ebron and Juju but letting Matt Feiler and Villanueva walk away, and cutting DeCastro. I would have kept Feiler at the very least and look to bring in at least one other experienced player along with Turner.

The Steelers probably have the worst line in the league, with little hope of improvement in the short term. I like Colbert and the Steelers are a well run team for the most part but this is not good management of resources in my opinion.

 

They don't probably have the worst line. As of last rankings they do...take that with a grain of salt.

 

The Steelers drafted, invested, and paid olinemen over the years. Unfortunately, they had other areas to address over the years. No one should expect the organization to replace the losses in one offseason. There are limited draft picks and salary capp to consider.

Most realize there are going to be growing pains with most young players.

 

Someone has had one too many bong hits...

 

Or not enough

 

I usually make posts like this after hours, 10am is a little worrisome.

 

They somehow let the defense get really lousy with some terrible misses in the draft and a freak injury to Shazier. Then they ignored the Oline and waited until Pouncey and DD were done, should of realized that was coming especially with Pouncey he hadn't been good for at least 2 maybe 3 yrs. Then they over rated Okorafor ( the guy is a human pylon on either side) and somehow expect the invisible big man Banner to be an all pro. I have only seen him play a half dozen plays, so I have no idea if he is any good.
They constantly restock the coaching staff from within so the standard stays the standard.

 

At the time of free agency they didn't have any cap space due to the reduced cap, so keeping Feiler and AV was out of the question.

 

Management removed the o-linemen, so now the defensive guys have to block themselves.

 

Could have cut Ebron, not brought back Juju, done some restructures earlier than they did etc.

There is always a way

 

I can’t relate to this.

This I can, just saying.

 

It's a Walmart analogy, I thought they had to stock shelves.

 

They weren't going to cut Ebron before the draft, they didn't know they would get Freiermuth, JuJu came back later in free agency Feiler was already gone. They weren't going to re-sign a 33 year old AV who can't run block.

 

I wouldn’t have brought AV back either, he is terrible

But I don’t accept that they couldn’t have found a way to do a deal with Feiler. There are always ways to clear cap room, always.

 

Presumably they’re bottom for paying the o-line because of their age/experience? Rather than under investment.

That said, it would be useful to have Feiler still around. AV and DD, it was their time to go.

 

And he's thinking while he's joggin' 'round
Sure is glad he quit the hard drugs

- Old Hippe

 

Their plan was for Dotson to replace Feiler, after he filled in for him last season.

 

Having young / inexperienced guys is a symptom of underinvestment surely? I’m talking about the draft as well. Absolutely nothing against Najee and Friermuth but they were luxury picks given the holes on the roster elsewhere. Maybe it’ll work out long term but this offseason should have been about doing whatever they can to fix the line, they were never going to be a top 10 unit but they could have put a better unit together than what they have.

It was time for Pouncey, AV and DeCastro to go I think you are right. I’m not arguing that they should have kept them.

 

Well their plan right across the board has failed. We can argue the details of how it came about but they have the worst line in the league, dependent on first and second year players and journeymen like Turner stepping up. It was never likely to work, and here we are.

Are you honestly saying they did everything the could to improve the offensive line and this is not on the front office?