Munchak ready to teach Steelers' O-linemen

[Shoe]

Hubbard had done much better against the Steelers defense in the first two weeks of camp. He took the first-team reps for the first few days of camp when Ramon Foster was away from the team because of his mother’s death. When Foster was injured last week Hubbard once again ran with the first-team offense. He played fairly well. The same can’t be said for his first preseason outing of 2014.

If Hubbard follows up with a bad practice or two this week we could see more of undrafted free agent guard/center Chris Elkins, a camp standout who played only nine snaps against the Giants.

Disappointed "Chicken Nugget" wasn't on the field more than he was. I thought we might have a surprise gem on our hands.

[K Train]

Wait, I thought Cody Wallace was going to replace Pouncey? and that the new draft pick was the best player on the team

Lol yeah I heard he was better than pouncey

[hawaiiansteel]

On the Steelers: Marcus Gilbert plans to stick around

By Ed Bouchette / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Slowly, patiently, the Steelers reconstructed an offensive line from a team weakness into what they consider a team strength, and now that it is, they plan to keep it together for a while.

Their latest move is to draw closer to signing right tackle Marcus Gilbert to a new contract before their self-imposed deadline, which is the first regular-season game. They signed center Maurkice Pouncey to a new six-year, $46 million contract in June before he could enter the final year of his rookie deal, and it appears they also will do so with Gilbert.

“No deal is signed yet, but I’m confident it’s going to get done,” Gilbert said shortly after talking to his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, who is negotiating the new deal with the Steelers.

Their other three starters on the line all are signed through the 2015 season: tackle Kelvin Beachum and guards Ramon Foster and David DeCastro. Beachum and DeCastro still are in their 2012 rookie contracts, and the Steelers can exercise the option on DeCastro for 2016 next year.

“It feels good to know that you are wanted by this organization,” Gilbert said.

Other than Foster, Gilbert has played and started in more Steelers games since 2011 than any other lineman. A second-round draft pick from Florida in 2011, Gilbert moved into the starting lineup in the second game of the season, the first Steelers rookie to start a game at tackle in five years. He went on to start 13 games that season. He started the first five of 2012 before an ankle injury ended the rest of his season.

He returned to start 16 games at right tackle last season, the only offensive lineman who started every game.

For the first time in years, the offensive line seems to be strong and stable, and that is how it played for the two series it was on the field Saturday against the New York Giants.

“It was pretty good to go out there and get off to a fast pace, a fast start,” Gilbert said. “That was important to us, to set a tone. Last year, when we came out, knowing it was preseason and we knew the amount of plays we were going to play, we were kind of lackadaisical. This year there was more a sense of urgency. We wanted to come out and prove a point.”

[URL]http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/s...#ixzz3AAP6pDTN[/URL]
__________________

[hawaiiansteel]

Ed Bouchette's Steelers chat transcript

August 12, 2014

tom f: Ed, Do you think Mike Adams will ever crack the starting lineup? from what i watched last yr & last Sat i don't think he even belongs in this league

Ed Bouchette: Barring injuries or defections, not with this team.

[URL]http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2014/08/12/Ed-Bouchette-s-Steelers-chat-transcript-8-12-14/stories/201408120199#ixzz3AGEkue8H[/URL]

[fezziwig]

I remember when Kevin Colbert was asked about Mike Adams after they drafted him. How well or confident he felt about drafting Adams and Colbert actually seemed giddy as if he got the steal of the year with this guy. Meanwhile, I'm reading reviews about him and he has been to the Steelers everything I've read about him. The persons that are evaluating our players or drafting our players remind me of weathermen. Weathermen that do not look out the window.

[K Train]

I thought we got a big steal too. His tools were undeniable but he seemed focused to work on his inconsistencies

[NorthCoast]

I thought we got a big steal too. His tools were undeniable but he seemed focused to work on his inconsistencies

There was definitely some stealing going on with the Adams draft pick. Sadly, it was Adams stealing a roster spot and rookie contract from the Steelers.

[BradshawsHairdresser]

Hopefully, the Steelers have learned their lesson...never again let an underachieving, drug-test violating, questionable-motor player talk you into spending a 1st - 4th round pick on him. Even if he begs and whines and tells you that he's a life-long Steelers fan.

[K Train]

Shoulda just took a chance on Sentreal Henderson in the 7th

[hawaiiansteel]

Beachum coming up big on offensive line

By Ed Bouchette / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A revolutionary concept took hold on the Steelers offensive line, an idea so wild that even those who run the football team resisted until they had no choice.

They are showing that at left tackle, smaller is better. No one in the banking world would ever call 6-foot-3, 300-pound Kelvin Beachum small, but in the sphere of the NFL, he is -- by 4 of 5 inches and 30 pounds. He is so small for that position that when the Steelers got around to drafting him in the seventh round in 2012, they said he would play guard, even though he started 54 games at left tackle for Southern Methodist University.

Yet Beachum not only started 11 games at left tackle in 2013 and one at tight end, he has overwhelmed the competition this summer known as 6-7, 330-pound Mike Adams, who was drafted in the second round in 2012. Beachum put the clamps on his job from the get-go this year and there no longer is any suggestion of anyone else playing the position.

What has gone largely unnoticed is that Beachum's size really may be an advantage, and his success could prompt NFL scouts to look more closely at why it works. He uses his hands, technique -- and long arms -- as effective tools. And his smaller height gives him leverage over some of the bigger pass rushers he goes against.

This was proven long ago when Tunch Ilkin made Pro Bowls as a right tackle at just 6-3, 260. Ilkin trained with a master arts expert to work on his hands and became so good at it that after his career he was in demand by other NFL teams and colleges to teach those skills to their linemen.

It's no wonder that Beachum has asked Ilkin to work with him and the two continue to do so.

"I tell him to focus on your hands," said Ilkin, who started for 10 years in the NFL before becoming part of the Steelers broadcast team. "He's not that tall but he has long arms. You want that. As a shorter guy you have leverage. It wasn't the 6-7, 6-8 guys who worried me, it was the 6-2 guys who had great technique.

"To me, technique is everything, I don't care how big you are.

"I think size is the most overrated thing in the National Football League."

Ilkin asked Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert if outside pass rushers are any bigger than when he played. Colbert told him they are not.

"Then why do you need a 330-pound offensive tackle to play the 250-pound speed rusher?" Ilkin wondered. "Jason Worilds is no bigger than guys I played against, neither is Jarvis Jones. I played against Reggie White, who was 300. I played against Charles Mann, who was 275, Ray Childress 275, William Fuller 275. They're no different."

Beachum and Ilkin talk regularly, and the old tackle offered some new advice that continues in this revolutionary theme.

"Aim small, miss small," Beachum said.

It comes from the movie, "The Patriot," in which Mel Gibson instructs his sons on the art of hitting a human target in the Revolutionary War. In the Ilkin vernacular, it involves punching with the hands.

"I had my hands a little high and a little wide," Beachum explained. "Aim small, miss small. Sometimes you aim at a certain point you miss that point but sometimes when you miss you're still in a great position."

"We worked with the hand stuff in the past and he really likes that stuff," Ilkin said. "Aim small, miss small [means] throw the punch out there; throw the punch quicker than you think. Don't wait on him."

Beachum and the rest of the offensive line did not allow a sack of Ben Roethlisberger in the quarterback's three series Saturday night in a 19-16 preseason victory against the Buffalo Bills. The no-huddle offense contributed to that. So did the left tackle, who is trying to change the perception of just what people should look for in one.

"Not change dramatically," Beachum said, "but little things that have to change that cause people to think of that left tackle position, especially for the Steelers, in a different light than it's been the past couple of years."

Aim small, miss small. All revolutions need a battle cry.

Injuries minimal

The Steelers came through the game Saturday night against Buffalo in relatively good health. Coach Mike Tomlin reported one injury, a dislocated shoulder to guard Bryant Browning. The team will practice today and Tuesday and leave Wednesday for Philadelphia, where they play their third preseason game Thursday night.

[URL]http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/s...#ixzz3AjRPoNvb[/URL]

[K Train]

Man theres a lot to be excited about with this years oline. They look good, it looks like seriously 5 starter caliber players which I dont think has happened since 2005

[RuthlessBurgher]

Gotta love hearing about Beachum mastering the Tunch Punch.

[Oviedo]

Gotta love hearing about Beachum mastering the Tunch Punch.

Yep! I loved that he sought out the help before last season. Maybe Adams could learn a lesson????