Offensive Line Could Hold Back Pittsburgh Steelers

[flippy]

Sure you can. I predicted that before the season started that we would have injuries (as every team does every year) and that our lack of talent/depth would be an issue. BTW - I also predicted (before the season) that some posters would AGAIN use injuries as another excuse for the Steelers mediocre season. Obviously some people CAN predict injuries!

You say it with such pride :P

[Sugar]

Sure you can. I predicted that before the season started that we would have injuries (as every team does every year) and that our lack of talent/depth would be an issue. BTW - I also predicted (before the season) that some posters would AGAIN use injuries as another excuse for the Steelers mediocre season. Obviously some people CAN predict injuries!

OK, perhaps I should have been more clear. You can't predict who will be injured. Who would have predicted that Larry Foote would be lost for the year in the first game?

[feltdizz]

OK, perhaps I should have been more clear. You can't predict who will be injured. Who would have predicted that Larry Foote would be lost for the year in the first game?

bingo.. and I missed on my Gilbert prediction. Dude usually finds a way to miss a quarter or 2 every game and mess up the OL chemistry that never had... but DD took car of that early.. real early.

[Steeler Shades]

You say it with such pride :P

Pride is the incorrect term.
Outrage might be more accurate. I can't believe that each year people use injuries as an "excuse" for a team that has talent problems. Lack of starting talent and lack of depth. Who could predict injuries? Anybody familiar with the NFL knows that there are injuries every year...on every team. To expect the Steelers not to have them AND TO BE READY for them is naive IMHO.

[papillon]

I LOL everytime I hear about the Steelers using high draft picks on Oline. Robert Gallery was supposed to be the greatest lineman to ever lace up a set of cleats at one time. How did his career turn out? Draft picks dont mean squat if you miss on the guys you pick. The only way to straighten this mess out is to bring in a proven vetern or two to ancor the line and add some stability. Then our young draft picks can earn their way in instead of being thrown in before they are ready.

Yup, that's true, so then its time to take a look at the people responsible for the draft picks, Tomlin, Colbert and the scouting department. It's not like they didn't recognize the need and try to do something about it. They tried and as of right now they failed, except for Pouncey, DeCastro and Adams remain to be seen, I think I've seen enough of Gilbert.

Pappy

[papillon]

Pride is the incorrect term.
Outrage might be more accurate. I can't believe that each year people use injuries as an "excuse" for a team that has talent problems. Lack of starting talent and lack of depth. Who could predict injuries? Anybody familiar with the NFL knows that there are injuries every year...on every team. To expect the Steelers not to have them AND TO BE READY for them is naive IMHO.

Shades is in the house, the party has officially started. Good to see you and your particular brand of logic! Stick around, this could get interesting on here after tonight.

Pappy

[flippy]

Pride is the incorrect term.
Outrage might be more accurate. I can't believe that each year people use injuries as an "excuse" for a team that has talent problems. Lack of starting talent and lack of depth. Who could predict injuries? Anybody familiar with the NFL knows that there are injuries every year...on every team. To expect the Steelers not to have them AND TO BE READY for them is naive IMHO.

Our injuries are no big deal yet imho. But there are certain players no team can really replace and still expect to compete for a championship. If Ben or Troy go down, we're f'd. Other than those 2, we should be able to get by for the most part. Ike would be a big loss. So is Heath. Maybe Timmons. Other than that, I think we'd be ok with backups.

But there's also a point where losing a large number of players starts to have an impact. Especially if you lose a bunch in the same game given you can only dress part of the 53. Carrying injured guys on roster spots doesn't necessarily make things easier.

[skyhawk]

This team has had injury and conditioning problems the last 3 years.

[Chadman]

Yup, that's true, so then its time to take a look at the people responsible for the draft picks, Tomlin, Colbert and the scouting department. It's not like they didn't recognize the need and try to do something about it. They tried and as of right now they failed, except for Pouncey, DeCastro and Adams remain to be seen, I think I've seen enough of Gilbert.

Pappy

Hehehe... Pappy- you say the Steelers have tried to fix the OL problem & failed, except for Pouncey, DeCastro & possibly Adams.

So 3 out of the 4 high selection solutions were not failures.... yet they failed?

For the record, Chadman knows what you are saying- right now the OL is a mess even with the high selections. But outside of drafting OL in Round 1 every year until you strike lucky, how do you go about fixing the OL different to what the Steelers have done? They picked up the #1 interior OL guys in both DeCastro & Pouncey for their respective years, and got Adams (who was a Round 1 talent) in Round 2. Gilbert is the only one that could be second-guessed as to his draft value (although the end of Round 2, beginning of Round 3 was about the right spot in predictions). The Steelers haven't overdrafted, haven't reached on any of these guys.

Chadman's take- a lot of change, in a short time, to both the personel & coaching hasn't allowed the group to gel as quickly as you'd like. They are talented guys. The pieces are in place. They need time to build chemistry though.