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Steelers Justin Hartwig and Trai Essex feeling the heat
By Dagger, on August 16th, 2010
It’s almost humanly impossible to expect a rookie to come in and start at Center. It’s extremely complex, tons of calls to be made, it takes years of practice to even begin to grasp the Steelers offense, and nobody is going to walk into training camp and pick things up so quickly that they could earn a starting spot by Week 1. Or so the incumbents would have you believe. Anyone else notice that the quotes you are hearing about Pouncey change drastically from one source to the next? Take a look:
Ben Roethlisberger on whether or not Pouncey could start at center: “The Guards would have to help a lot making calls, it wouldn’t be easy. It’s a complex thing you ask the center to do, he has to make a lot of identifications. Even Justin [Hartwig] who’s been here still gets help when I’m under center. With Pouncey he seems to make all the right calls, he knows what he’s doing. He’s had a great camp, he’s going to be a good one. Now is it going to be Guard or Center? I’m not sure.”
PGH Take: OK, clearly this is Big Ben giving Pouncey some praise but he’s being very careful not to leave his boys (Essex/Hartwig) out to dry. He has to remain cool with all of his linemen, he can’t play favorites. Don’t expect Big Ben to lobby for one guy over the other. He can’t.
Trai Essex on Pouncey: “Coach Kugs puts a lot on our Center….. look at the box, declare reads, see what Safeties come down, make lefty/ righty calls. He’s picking it up good, but you have to know what everyone is doing. Me and Justin have a pretty good chemistry up there.”
PGH Take: Ah yes. It’s nearly impossible to spot Midde Linebackers and call defenses isn’t it, Trai? Our Offensive Line has been so dominant these past few years that we would be silly to even consider making changes. Deep down inside Essex probably hopes Pouncey plays Center….that would assure that Essex gets to keep his starting spot, unless Hartwig moves to RG. If he is worried about his own spot on the line, Essex needs to play up the chemistry part of it. If Pouncey wins the Center job then Essex is in danger of losing his job to Hartwig or Foster.
Dennis Dixon: “The communication as far as being a center was great, he was very vocal letting me know as to what he saw. We were on the same page.”
PGH Take: Dixon has nothing to win or lose here, he’s telling it like it is.
Justin Hartwig: “It would be difficult for a rookie center to come in and play in this system, however, it is not saying that it couldn’t be done.”
PGH Take: The first part of the sentence = it’s too difficult of a task for him to handle, please don’t give him my job! The second part of the sentence = in case I get moved to starting RG, it won’t be THAT hard to learn how to play Center, if I start at Guard and he starts at Center we’ll still be OK.
Chris Kemoeatu: “I was very impressed with him. He is right there in the middle of stuff, and he makes the calls, he did a good job of identifying the front and calling out the mike linebacker. He did a great job. We had no problems with communication at all.”
PGH Take: What a minute, I thought learning the calls made at Center was the hardest thing to do in professional sports? No? Kemo’s job at LG is safe he doesn’t care what happens at C/RG.
Mike Tomlin: “He are pleased he was able to handle that. That is an indication that things are going well for him. We’ll look at the tape to see how he performed the minute details at both positions.”
PGH Take: Typical Tomlin coach-speak….but if Tomlin is getting Pouncey snaps at both positions and got him in the game vs Detroit early with the rest of the starting OL, he must like what he sees out of Maurkice.
Offensive Line Coach Kugler: “This thing hasn’t fazed him, he’s picked it up probably at a pace as quickly or better than I would have expected.”
PGH Take: Same as the Tomlin quote. Can’t put Pouncey in the Hall of Fame yet but they like what they see. They also can’t get too negative about Essex/Hartwig. Give Pouncey some praise, warn people that it’s still preseason, it’s still early, but so far so good. I’m fine with that.
Maurkice Pouncey: “Leading up to the game, I started to play a lot of center, I knew ahead of time that I was mainly going to play center this game. For me, it’s just one game, I had some missed assignments, and it is a chance to build on that.”
And now this from Ed Bouchette this afternoon:
Steelers rookie Maurkice Pouncey is practicing at center with the first team this afternoon.
Pouncey and Justin Hartwig, the starting center the past two seasons, have been splitting the center position with the first and second teams this afternoon, It is the first time Pouncey has practiced with the first team since the Steelers drafted him in the first round in April.
The Steelers have not had a rookie regularly start since Heath Miller in 2005.
So what do you guys think? I think Pouncey starts at Center by Week 1 of the Regular Season. Why not? What do you have to lose? I think he can impact the game more at Center than he can at Guard. I’m also VERY anti-Trai Essex. I can’t believe he actually starts for this team. I would have no problem with Pouncey at C and Hartwig shifting over to RG. With Hartwig only a foot away from Pouncey at all times Justin could be Pouncey’s eyes and ears until he gets the hang of things. If we are to believe the quotes above and the Guards help the Center with the line calls, then what better guy to help Pouncey in his maturation process than Hartwig?
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By Dagger, on August 16th, 2010
It’s almost humanly impossible to expect a rookie to come in and start at Center. It’s extremely complex, tons of calls to be made, it takes years of practice to even begin to grasp the Steelers offense, and nobody is going to walk into training camp and pick things up so quickly that they could earn a starting spot by Week 1. Or so the incumbents would have you believe. Anyone else notice that the quotes you are hearing about Pouncey change drastically from one source to the next? Take a look:
Ben Roethlisberger on whether or not Pouncey could start at center: “The Guards would have to help a lot making calls, it wouldn’t be easy. It’s a complex thing you ask the center to do, he has to make a lot of identifications. Even Justin [Hartwig] who’s been here still gets help when I’m under center. With Pouncey he seems to make all the right calls, he knows what he’s doing. He’s had a great camp, he’s going to be a good one. Now is it going to be Guard or Center? I’m not sure.”
PGH Take: OK, clearly this is Big Ben giving Pouncey some praise but he’s being very careful not to leave his boys (Essex/Hartwig) out to dry. He has to remain cool with all of his linemen, he can’t play favorites. Don’t expect Big Ben to lobby for one guy over the other. He can’t.
Trai Essex on Pouncey: “Coach Kugs puts a lot on our Center….. look at the box, declare reads, see what Safeties come down, make lefty/ righty calls. He’s picking it up good, but you have to know what everyone is doing. Me and Justin have a pretty good chemistry up there.”
PGH Take: Ah yes. It’s nearly impossible to spot Midde Linebackers and call defenses isn’t it, Trai? Our Offensive Line has been so dominant these past few years that we would be silly to even consider making changes. Deep down inside Essex probably hopes Pouncey plays Center….that would assure that Essex gets to keep his starting spot, unless Hartwig moves to RG. If he is worried about his own spot on the line, Essex needs to play up the chemistry part of it. If Pouncey wins the Center job then Essex is in danger of losing his job to Hartwig or Foster.
Dennis Dixon: “The communication as far as being a center was great, he was very vocal letting me know as to what he saw. We were on the same page.”
PGH Take: Dixon has nothing to win or lose here, he’s telling it like it is.
Justin Hartwig: “It would be difficult for a rookie center to come in and play in this system, however, it is not saying that it couldn’t be done.”
PGH Take: The first part of the sentence = it’s too difficult of a task for him to handle, please don’t give him my job! The second part of the sentence = in case I get moved to starting RG, it won’t be THAT hard to learn how to play Center, if I start at Guard and he starts at Center we’ll still be OK.
Chris Kemoeatu: “I was very impressed with him. He is right there in the middle of stuff, and he makes the calls, he did a good job of identifying the front and calling out the mike linebacker. He did a great job. We had no problems with communication at all.”
PGH Take: What a minute, I thought learning the calls made at Center was the hardest thing to do in professional sports? No? Kemo’s job at LG is safe he doesn’t care what happens at C/RG.
Mike Tomlin: “He are pleased he was able to handle that. That is an indication that things are going well for him. We’ll look at the tape to see how he performed the minute details at both positions.”
PGH Take: Typical Tomlin coach-speak….but if Tomlin is getting Pouncey snaps at both positions and got him in the game vs Detroit early with the rest of the starting OL, he must like what he sees out of Maurkice.
Offensive Line Coach Kugler: “This thing hasn’t fazed him, he’s picked it up probably at a pace as quickly or better than I would have expected.”
PGH Take: Same as the Tomlin quote. Can’t put Pouncey in the Hall of Fame yet but they like what they see. They also can’t get too negative about Essex/Hartwig. Give Pouncey some praise, warn people that it’s still preseason, it’s still early, but so far so good. I’m fine with that.
Maurkice Pouncey: “Leading up to the game, I started to play a lot of center, I knew ahead of time that I was mainly going to play center this game. For me, it’s just one game, I had some missed assignments, and it is a chance to build on that.”
And now this from Ed Bouchette this afternoon:
Steelers rookie Maurkice Pouncey is practicing at center with the first team this afternoon.
Pouncey and Justin Hartwig, the starting center the past two seasons, have been splitting the center position with the first and second teams this afternoon, It is the first time Pouncey has practiced with the first team since the Steelers drafted him in the first round in April.
The Steelers have not had a rookie regularly start since Heath Miller in 2005.
So what do you guys think? I think Pouncey starts at Center by Week 1 of the Regular Season. Why not? What do you have to lose? I think he can impact the game more at Center than he can at Guard. I’m also VERY anti-Trai Essex. I can’t believe he actually starts for this team. I would have no problem with Pouncey at C and Hartwig shifting over to RG. With Hartwig only a foot away from Pouncey at all times Justin could be Pouncey’s eyes and ears until he gets the hang of things. If we are to believe the quotes above and the Guards help the Center with the line calls, then what better guy to help Pouncey in his maturation process than Hartwig?
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