Pouncey

[Eddie Spaghetti]

Felt, you have no idea how good DD will be. That's the truth.

and neither do you.

felt is spot on in that DD has not lived up to the lofty expectations.

he needs to get better and become the anchor he was drafted to be.

[Dee Dub]

Steeler draft talk in September? I love it !!

News flash: It will be Decastro who eventually moves to center. Watch.

And if you want to trade a player and get the biggest return in this off season...............Ben Roethlisberger.

[SidSmythe]

It's funny you posted this Shawn b/c I was thinking this exact same thing as I was driving home tonight. I'm not a huge POUNCEY fan ... I think he's vastly overrated. I'd hate the STEELERS to lose VELASCO (if he plays well the rest of the season) and overpay POUNCEY

[Discipline of Steel]

Frankly, I don't mind if we spend a little extra on the OL. We have invested high draft picks and they should be given the opportunity to come together as a top unit. Just because they aren't successful now doesn't mean the sun, moon, and stars cant align in the near future. Lets keep our guys we drafted instead of chasing new prospects. Cohesiveness on the OL comes with playing together over time so I think a little more patience is in order here. Remember we still have Guy Whimper on the 53 so obviously there is still a lack of respectable players on the OL and we should try hard to keep what ones we have. Once our cup runneth over with talent, we can start thinking about who needs to go.

[Shoe]

Dude IS athletic and can get to the second level but HOW OFTEN DOES THAT MATTER? We rarely have seen it the last couple of years, runs are stuffed so often.
Brute strength and pure power are what we need to take on the behemoth interior linemen in our division.
Pouncey has skills but he gets OWNED by these guys, which is part of the problem in our run game in recent years.

We whine about running up the middle as though it is a wasted play every time we try, we FAIL ROUTINELY attempting to convert short yardage plays up the middle, yet think our center is irreplacable?

The thing about his athleticism is that they need to use that athleticism as an asset going forward. Pouncey is still very young. I'd be fine with re-signing him, if they would make full use of him. I recall the use of Faneca one year at LT, because of a shortcoming there that year. That move lent stability to the line. Along those same lines, we should consider employing a guy like Pouncey as a fail-safe, if he's capable.

It has to be better than these two jabronis we currently trot out there.

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

and neither do you.

felt is spot on in that DD has not lived up to the lofty expectations.

he needs to get better and become the anchor he was drafted to be.

He missed almost all of his first year, and probably is still not back to 100%. This is essentially his rookie season and he is 3 games in. Can't we at least give him an inc at this point?

[AngryAsian]

You may be right. The problem with keeping Pouncey is the investment needed on the OL in the future. If we draft and sign a franchise LT, and DD looks like a Pro Bowler in years to come can we afford 3 highly paid OLmen?

Have to agree with you Shawn. I think that Pouncey will not be a wise investment. A huge contract for a linemen with 2 season ending knee surgeries in 3.5 years makes me skiddish. We need to start looking for smarter options to stretch the cap for this team to be able to rebuild into a winner once more. I think this includes making the brave decision of saying adios to Ben. I think the special quality we have seen in the past from our franchise QB is now gone. His mistakes have more often been the contributing factor of our losses over the past couple of years.

[feltdizz]

He missed almost all of his first year, and probably is still not back to 100%. This is essentially his rookie season and he is 3 games in. Can't we at least give him an inc at this point?

I'm grading what I see... I'm not saying DD won't pan out but I have a hard time giving the credit to a guy who took Pouncey out this season.

We drove to the GL with ease with Pouncey and struggled to put drives together once he left.

[pfelix73]

Revisit this thread after the season is over. I want to see what Adams and Gilbert or Beacham at RT can do after a full 16 games before we start talking about having to draft a LT in next year's draft which is 8 months away.

[thor75]

If Velasco plays well this season I would keep him there and move Pouncey to LG. Foster could move to RT and use Gilbert for depth. And I would still go after Matthews in the draft.