Velasco to IR

[Ernie]

absolutely... unless you are saying that those guys don't actually try in the preseason.

[birtikidis]

absolutely... unless you are saying that those guys don't actually try in the preseason.

they try, but they don't game plan. Big difference.

[steelz09]

I can't say that I disagree with the initial post. Pouncey was a REALLY good rookie. But is he a top notch veteran center? I don't think so. I've seen both Legursky and Velasko replace Pouncey will little to no drop off.

That isn't a coincidence. I would be hesitant to give Pouncey a big time contract considering I've seen 2 backups replace him relatively easily. Pouncey biggest problem is strength and power and he hasn't improved that in the slightest since his rookie year.

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

I love the all-pro argument for why he is so good. You do know how a player makes all-pro, don't you? It is voted on by a panel of sports writers. How many of those writers do you think watch each team's Oline and analyze their play? How many are even capable of that? I would think that it is more likely that most of their OL analysis comes from watching football on the weekend and Monday night, and listening to the talking heads.

Pouncey's rookie year also coincided with several prime time games for the Steelers. Every time you watched them that season, he was talked up huge, as is typical in games like this. You hear a lot of hyperbole on Sunday and Monday night, it is not just Pouncey. It was a nice story for a franchise that has a great tradition at center. You would not hear "this kid is having a good rookie campaign", you would hear "Pittsburgh has not seen this kind of play at center since the like of Webster and Dawson" every couple of weeks, all year long. It is what these guys do.

After that, there are no stats and highlights to go by, so every year they are more likely to vote for the guy they know, and center is probably one position that rarely has a new guy come along to knock the last guy out of your thought process.

And for the record, I am stating that it is not by high expectations that make him look like he is not playing as good. It is has been his play. Velasco has played at least as good as Pouncey, and that is not because I had low expectations. It is because I have not seen him get abused by defensive linemen like Pouncey has.

[feltdizz]

I love the all-pro argument for why he is so good. You do know how a player makes all-pro, don't you? It is voted on by a panel of sports writers. How many of those writers do you think watch each team's Oline and analyze their play? How many are even capable of that? I would think that it is more likely that most of their OL analysis comes from watching football on the weekend and Monday night, and listening to the talking heads.

Pouncey's rookie year also coincided with several prime time games for the Steelers. Every time you watched them that season, he was talked up huge, as is typical in games like this. You hear a lot of hyperbole on Sunday and Monday night, it is not just Pouncey. It was a nice story for a franchise that has a great tradition at center. You would not hear "this kid is having a good rookie campaign", you would hear "Pittsburgh has not seen this kind of play at center since the like of Webster and Dawson" every couple of weeks, all year long. It is what these guys do.

After that, there are no stats and highlights to go by, so every year they are more likely to vote for the guy they know, and center is probably one position that rarely has a new guy come along to knock the last guy out of your thought process.

And for the record, I am stating that it is not by high expectations that make him look like he is not playing as good. It is has been his play. Velasco has played at least as good as Pouncey, and that is not because I had low expectations. It is because I have not seen him get abused by defensive linemen like Pouncey has.

I love the 10+ games and hyperbole reasoning for why Velasco is "as good or better"

[Ernie]

they try, but they don't game plan. Big difference.

getting your a$$ kicked is getting your a$$ kicked.. regardless

Not much game planning involved in getting ran over.

[Ernie]

I can't say that I disagree with the initial post. Pouncey was a REALLY good rookie. But is he a top notch veteran center? I don't think so. I've seen both Legursky and Velasko replace Pouncey will little to no drop off.

That isn't a coincidence. I would be hesitant to give Pouncey a big time contract considering I've seen 2 backups replace him relatively easily. Pouncey biggest problem is strength and power and he hasn't improved that in the slightest since his rookie year.

plus 1.....

[Ernie]

I love the all-pro argument for why he is so good. You do know how a player makes all-pro, don't you? It is voted on by a panel of sports writers. How many of those writers do you think watch each team's Oline and analyze their play? How many are even capable of that? I would think that it is more likely that most of their OL analysis comes from watching football on the weekend and Monday night, and listening to the talking heads.

Pouncey's rookie year also coincided with several prime time games for the Steelers. Every time you watched them that season, he was talked up huge, as is typical in games like this. You hear a lot of hyperbole on Sunday and Monday night, it is not just Pouncey. It was a nice story for a franchise that has a great tradition at center. You would not hear "this kid is having a good rookie campaign", you would hear "Pittsburgh has not seen this kind of play at center since the like of Webster and Dawson" every couple of weeks, all year long. It is what these guys do.

After that, there are no stats and highlights to go by, so every year they are more likely to vote for the guy they know, and center is probably one position that rarely has a new guy come along to knock the last guy out of your thought process.

And for the record, I am stating that it is not by high expectations that make him look like he is not playing as good. It is has been his play. Velasco has played at least as good as Pouncey, and that is not because I had low expectations. It is because I have not seen him get abused by defensive linemen like Pouncey has.

You hit the nail on the head.

[NorthCoast]

Looking at this convinces me there is not a lot of difference between the two. and keep in mind Velasco switched positions during his career while Pouncey has play the same position since college:

Career Offensive Line Stats - Velasco Year Team G GS Pen Yds False Start Holding Sacks Allwd Yds 2009 Ten 1 0.00 0.00 2010 Ten 16 3 3 30 3 0.00 0.00 2011 Ten 16 1 9 0.00 0.00 2012 Ten 16 16 4 25 3 1 1.00 0.00 2013 Pit 11 11 1 10 2.00 12.50 Totals 60 30 9 74 3 4 3.00 12.50
Career Offensive Line Stats - Pouncey Year Team G GS Pen Yds False Start Holding Sacks Allwd Yds 2010 Pit 16 16 1 7 1 3.00 24.00 2011 Pit 14 14 3 35 2 2.50 18.00 2012 Pit 15 15 2 10 2 3.75 22.00 2013 Pit 1 1 0.00 0.00 Totals 46 46 6 52 2 3 9.25 64.00

[feltdizz]

That doesn't tell me anything at all... lol. Velasco had no sacks until he played with us which isn't surprisingbecause Ben takes sacks where modt QB's will chuck it out of bounds or check down.

The only thing that pops out to me is games started... Velasco has only started 30 games even though he played in 60.