Steelers Fire Offensive Line Coach Jack Bicknell

[JUST-PLAIN-NASTY]

Saw on Twitter.

[buccoray61]

It's confirmed on Steelers.com

[Shawn]

Shoot, thought he did a decent job with the rag tag squad he had to work with.

[buccoray61]

Shoot, thought he did a decent job with the rag tag squad he had to work with.

That's what I thought,the O-Line seemed to improve as the season went on.

[Djfan]

Shoot, thought he did a decent job with the rag tag squad he had to work with.

Me, too. Wonder what the story is.

[SteelBuckeye]

Me, too. Wonder what the story is.

Well, it "WAS" his job to have either Gilbert or Adams "prepared" to play LT. They had to jettison the Gilbert at LT idea in training camp and Adams didn't pan out there this year either (being nice). Forcing them to trade for Brown and luck into Beachum after Brown was hurt warming up for his first game in a Steelers uniform. I think maybe the failure to develop Adams and Gilbert did him in.

[JUST-PLAIN-NASTY]

I think credit to the OL getting better with all the injuries falls on Shaun Sarrett. I think maybe they like what he did & they will promote Sarrett to OL coach. Who knows...Maybe Tunch is ready!

[pfelix73]

You can also thank Matt Spaeth for helping out the OL in blocking once he came back...

[Ghost]

Neither saddened nor surprised.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Although Le'Veon Bell this year was more impressive than Jon Dwyer and Ike Redman last year, the OL wasn't opening up any better holes for him.

Although Ben took less sacks as the year went on, that may have been primarily a function of running more no huddle and getting the ball out of his hands quicker.

Adams was a disaster at LT (ended up being okay as a tackle-eligible 6th OL/TE), Beachum was serviceable there.
Foster was serviceable at LG.
After Pouncey went down, Velasco was better than many of us expected (I figured he'd be a below average starter, but he was actually an above average starter) and Wallace was better than many of us expected to a lesser extent (I figured he'd be way below average, but he was only slightly below average).
DeCastro was a Pro Bowl candidate in his first real as a starter after what amounted to essentially a medical redshirt rookie sesason.
Gilbert was serviceable at RT.

[BURGH86STEEL]

Only the Steelers know why he was let go. Maybe it was philosophical differences from the OC or something else?

[Oviedo]

Did the OL really improve this year or did Ben finally accept what Haley wanted him to do which just made a mediocre OL look better? I think it was much more of the latter than the former.

IMO our OL did not improve. Gilbert got just a little better. Adams didn't improve at all. Beachum is not the long term solution at LT. Still no depth.

[feltdizz]

The OL didn't get better... we just called plays that hid our OL and Bell turned no gainers into 3 yarders. This is great news.

[SteelBucks]

We must be setting the bar really low if some think Bicknell did an OK job. I don't care how banged up the line was (all teams have injuries).....the no huddle saved Ben's life and the team couldn't run the ball consistently all season.

[SteelBucks]

Only the Steelers know why he was let go. Maybe it was philosophical differences from the OC or something else?

Maybe the philosophical difference was that the Steelers would like to average more than 3 yards per rush.