I ask you though, does the OL lack talent, or is it the coaching staff's failure to develop that talent?
Pouncey was a first rounder with first round talent. I believe that the general consensus on the board is that his play has regressed since his rookie season. At the very least, I don't think that anybody believes that he improved.
Gilbert and Adams were high picks that certainly have not developed.
I can offer a pass to Decastro as he missed pretty much a full year, making him a rook of sorts this year.
Urbik was a high pick who showed nothing as a Steeler, but has gone on to be a reliable starter in Buffalo.
Later round picks like Kemo and Colon won starting jobs, but you never saw the steady improvement of well coached players, instead any success that they had seemed to come from their nasty attitudes.
Max Starks was probably our steadiest and best Olineman during his tenure, and it seemed that the coaching staff did everything in its power to get him out.
Probably the greatest coaching success that this OL has had in recent memory is Ramon Foster. He was brought in, undrafted, and is, at best, an average NFL lineman on his best days.
This coaching staff has not "coached up" one quality OL in so long that I can't remember the last one.
That's what I'm talking about. He was a horror show vs. Cincinnati... and he was very bad vs. Chicago too. (I can't recall for Tennessee, but I know the o-line struggled.) Watch the tape.
steeler_fan_in_t.o. makes a good point though. I personally, would put the blame on the drafting of such turds like Gilbert and Adams. But you make some good points, which I think change my mind to a degree. Nobody besides Foster can be said to have improved on our o-line in the last few years.
I think it is a combination of a lack of talent and the lack of development. Where you are drafted is meaningless after the draft because there are tons of 1st Round and 2nd Round picks who never make it. It is what you do once you are in the league.
I haven't given up on Gilbert or Adams but I think they are a year or two away from being starter ready. I do question whether the change to a new blocking scheme and then bailing on that has the OL totally screwed up.
"My team, may they always be right, but right or wrong...MY TEAM!"
Pouncey didn't regress... he was an upgrade at his position so he looked great. However, the rest of the OL has been a disaster. How much better is Pouncey supposed to get when the rest of the OL sucks?
I remember hearing DD being the answer to our OL woes... he goes down early and honestly, he isn't that great. Good.. but nowhere as good as advertised on here.
I'm not a fan of drafting an LT high because our coaches would screw it up and have him flip flopping, learning OG, C, etc...
I'm with North, draft skill and work with the guys we have and maybe pick up a decent guy in later rounds.
I think it's a combination of the QB and the play calling. Give this exact line to NO and they'd be perfectly fine with Brees/Payton. You'd see 3 step drops and quick releases.
Think about what Haley did to them in the 2nd half. We were running a jumbo package with Cotchery as the lone WR. That's asking the D to stack 11 guys in the box. WTF was he thinking? And then we've gotta QB that would hold the ball forever if he could. This line is in an impossible position.
Another suggestion would be to send Ben to an Arena team during the offseason so he can work on making faster reads/decisions.
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