Steelers’ run game off to worst start in 62 years

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Originally Posted by pfelix73

Bullsheet! You and I will never see eye to eye on this, and I don't give a rats ars about that either. DeCastro was surely getting the nod over Foster because he was the #1 draft pick, but playing-wise they were neck and neck in camp. If you go back and listen to statements from those that are in the local media and at camp- oh wait- you are in Florida not Pitt, you would surely know that many were saying Foster was having a great camp and was pushing for playing time.. Hence the 1 and 1A statement I made. And those that were making statements such as these range from WTAE announcing the local pre season games to Tunch and Craig Wolfley to even PSU's old coach Tom Bradley who is on some local radio up here. This was the talk during camp.

Totally disagree with you that he can't pass protect and he's not getting off the ball. If you are zone blocking on a running play, you aren't supposed to hold your block.. In man, he would, but not zone- damn it depends on what the play is called, formation, and blocking scheme called- and we don't know whats called just by watching the game- only the OL coach and staff would know after watching the films...

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Yep. We won't agree. You can love the nice little UDFA making good story for Foster but he is not an NFL starter on most of the teams in this league. If Foster was such an asset why did they move Colon to LG versus Foster? Couldn't they have cut Colon and saved a ton of money? The bottomline is they want Foster out of the starting lineup and into a back up role and every personnel move they have made confirms that.

Why else are they hoping and taking the risk that DeCastro might be able to play before the end of the season versus getting him healthy on IR? Because they know they need better than Foster playing in games that matter. That has nothing to do with DeCastro being the #1 pick because the safe bet would be to put him on IR.

I guess the proof in the pudding will be if they retain Foster at the end of the season. My bet is they don't and that is not what they do for people they want to be starters.

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Originally Posted by Slapstick

"Talk during camp" is not to throw Foster under the bus publicly...

DeCastro would have been a game 1 starter due to his superior play over Ramon Foster...

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No. They were playing equally in camp.. That was reported and talked about on the local media all through August.

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Originally Posted by pfelix73

No. They were playing equally in camp.. That was reported and talked about on the local media all through August.

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But the local media aren't the ones who watch these guys every play of every practice and know what they really want.

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Originally Posted by pfelix73

Disagree with you 110% on the 1st part of your post. DeCastro is one player (rook at that) among 5 OL. And to honest? Foster and DeCastro were pretty much 1 and 1A in camp. There is no huge drop off from DeCastro to Foster, so your idea of the OL to blame is just rubbish. You put a LeSean McCoy or Ray Rice on this team, they will still pick up the yardage and 1st downs...regardless..

Now, I do agree with your idea about addressing it in FA. If they could've released some $ and signed say a Ben Grubbs, then they could've used that 1st round pick on defense. We need more play-makers on defense. A lot of those guys come from the 1st few rounds, unless you really luck out on a round 5-type guy....rare..

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Yeah, we will disagree on that.

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Originally Posted by Oviedo

But the local media aren't the ones who watch these guys every play of every practice and know what they really want.

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Let me clarify. Local media I'm referring to are some ex- football players- OLmen that are in the local media around and ATTEND camp/ practices. They know- or at least they should know what they are talking about. Edmund Nelson, Tunch Ilken, Craig Wolfley. All 3 discussed Foster's camp time in August. Said he was pushing for the starting job as he was having a great camp. Yea, we'll see what they do next off-season. I say, he'll be back, unless he goes somewhere else to start.

Just hope to God Mendenhall can get us some rushing yards, because being this bad in 62 years is flat out embarrassing. OL's fault, huh..lol

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Originally Posted by pfelix73

Let me clarify. Local media I'm referring to are some ex- football players- OLmen that are in the local media around and ATTEND camp/ practices. They know- or at least they should know what they are talking about. Edmund Nelson, Tunch Ilken, Craig Wolfley. All 3 discussed Foster's camp time in August. Said he was pushing for the starting job as he was having a great camp. Yea, we'll see what they do next off-season. I say, he'll be back, unless he goes somewhere else to start.

Just hope to God Mendenhall can get us some rushing yards, because being this bad in 62 years is flat out embarrassing. OL's fault, huh..lol

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There were a few articles in the middle/end of preseason saying that he was playing tentatively at first learning the system, etc....but the light had started to turn on where he was just playing and not thinking and was blowing people up.

Castro has a higher ceiling but I don't think he would have a huge impact his first year. Gilbert is still getting hurt every game so we won't have a cohesive unit for a while...

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Originally Posted by pfelix73

Just hope to God Mendenhall can get us some rushing yards, because being this bad in 62 years is flat out embarrassing. OL's fault, huh..lol

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This we CAN agree on even if we will never agree on the other thing. If we can get some legit production out of the running game, Haley's options off of play action will take this offense to a new level. It is already trending in a great direction passing wise.

ahh, the same old tricks.

decastro would have started because a) he fell in their lap, b) his ceiling is higher and c) his learning curve was not severe. Foster has once again played consistent football and not made foolish penalties like his counterpart on the other side. Sound familiar? He is disregarded here by one very loud poster who has an axe to grind because he beat out one of his draft day pets, kraig urbik. Nobody has ever claimed foster was a pro-bowl guard, but what some fail to understand is the money they save on guys like him, can then be spent on chronic under achievers like lawrence timmons.

any reasonable person can see the pay/performance edge has gone to the steelers in regards to this mans service. Ramon Foster has been a part of a lot of wins here, its too bad some won't recognize that, but we all have our agendas I suppose.

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Originally Posted by Eddie Spaghetti

ahh, the same old tricks.

decastro would have started because a) he fell in their lap, b) his ceiling is higher and c) his learning curve was not severe. Foster has once again played consistent football and not made foolish penalties like his counterpart on the other side. Sound familiar? He is disregarded here by one very loud poster who has an axe to grind because he beat out one of his draft day pets, kraig urbik. Nobody has ever claimed foster was a pro-bowl guard, but what some fail to understand is the money they save on guys like him, can then be spent on chronic under achievers like lawrence timmons.

any reasonable person can see the pay/performance edge has gone to the steelers in regards to this mans service. Ramon Foster has been a part of a lot of wins here, its too bad some won't recognize that, but we all have our agendas I suppose.

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I agree. Foster brings his lunch pail to work every day and has for many years now and always seems to find a way to get into that starting lineup and/ or fill in when needed. He's an asset to this team as he can play OT too. DeCastro was a steal at where we drafted him, and he'll be a big addition to the OL down the road, but those 2 really did play at the same level in training camp. That is actually a positive for DD as he's just a rookie and was already matching Foster- the 4 year vet. So, I stand by my 1 and 1A statement. You can disagree if you must, but I know what was said in August as Ramon has a nasty streak to him and likes to compete.

OK- nuff said. I hate arguing with fellow Stiller fans, I'd rather do that with the Rats fans..:)

Here We Go Steelers, Here We Go.....!