Steelers Oline - Yesterday vs Today

[jj28west]

Ok,

Being a spoiled rotten fan who constantly dwells on any imperfections I cant help but notice the all too familiar picture of the running back getting the ball while at the same time being tackled or having to already shed a tackle.

I know the Oline's problems have been chronicled & discussed ad nauseum but really what has changed?

Are we giving away the play based on good opposition film study?

Can the oline be missing that many assignments?

I know there is much more than size but Starks, Capazzi, are like 6'6". That has to account for something even with less than exceptional skills.

The opponents post game comments many times were about how they got beat up physically and by the middle of the fourth quarter noone wanted to tackle from Bam to Bettis. We were in formations that were obvious (time killing) running plays that the opponent almost stacked everyone in the box and still the pile would move forward.

There could be a whole lot more to this then the weekly snapshots I get while watching the game but controlling the line of scrimmage has become such a challenge on almost every play. I am not trying to bash Arians but I hope he reconsiders the lead blocker formation with a more traditonal type fullback.

[feltdizz]

Re: Steelers Oline - Yesterday vs Today

first play of the game screamed of the same old same....another frustrating year running the ball.

[SanAntonioSteelerFan]

Re: Steelers Oline - Yesterday vs Today

Agreed, but need to keep in mind we were playing with a back up center (3rd string), and guard also, I believe. This, plus the fact that we are almost certainly calling vanilla plays at this time of year makes me not quite ready to throw in the towel for the season after the 1st pre-season game of the year.

As I recall, Ben was barely touched against the 1st stringers (OK, one goal line scramble), so it could have been worse.

But, , I'll wait before anointing Arians an Einstein (barf icon here).

[MaxAMillion]

Re: Steelers Oline - Yesterday vs Today

I don't expect the OL to be better because you have the same group of average players in the game. The Steelers basically had all their success running right last year and that will probably be the case again this year. Starks is not a physical OL. No reason to think that will change now. Kemo consisitently misses assignments and that probably won't change either. I also loved the illegal formation penalty against Colon. What would a Steeler game be without Colon getting a penalty.

At some point, this organization is going to have to invest major capital in the OL. Hopefully Ben will remain healthy until that happens.

[ramblinjim]

Re: Steelers Oline - Yesterday vs Today

I don't expect the OL to be better because you have the same group of average players in the game. The Steelers basically had all their success running right last year and that will probably be the case again this year. Starks is not a physical OL. No reason to think that will change now. Kemo consisitently misses assignments and that probably won't change either. I also loved the illegal formation penalty against Colon. What would a Steeler game be without Colon getting a penalty.

At some point, this organization is going to have to invest major capital in the OL. Hopefully Ben will remain healthy until that happens.

I'm going to refrain from passing judgment but I will say that this team has invested some pretty decent dollars in Starks & Kemo.

[grotonsteel]

Re: Steelers Oline - Yesterday vs Today

Darnell looks HOFer in comparision to Trai Essex. Trai got beat like drum yesterday. He is another turnstile.

Tony Hills, Ramon Foster looked good but again they were playing against the scrubs.

Doug and Shipley also looked good. Maybe Steelers can check if Doug can play RG. He will do better than Trai IMO.

How did Ubrik played? I did not see him yesterday at all.

[feltdizz]

Re: Steelers Oline - Yesterday vs Today

I don't expect the OL to be better because you have the same group of average players in the game. The Steelers basically had all their success running right last year and that will probably be the case again this year. Starks is not a physical OL. No reason to think that will change now. Kemo consisitently misses assignments and that probably won't change either. I also loved the illegal formation penalty against Colon. What would a Steeler game be without Colon getting a penalty.

At some point, this organization is going to have to invest major capital in the OL. Hopefully Ben will remain healthy until that happens.

first running play was the same running play we run on first down..

first pass Ben was put on his back.. Starks was beat easily to the outside.. I hate that dumb back pedal shuffle he does...

Colon getting an illegal formation penalty.. he is on par for a perfect year of one a game...

[birtikidis]

Re: Steelers Oline - Yesterday vs Today

the few times i focused on Urbik he looked kinda poor. I def. wasn't impressed.

[pfelix73]

Re: Steelers Oline - Yesterday vs Today

Some of you are overreacting if you ask me. 1st of all, you got 2 guys out, and again as I've said this for the past 2 seasons going on 3, since BA took over the play calling- Not having a FB in there on smash mouth football is a cause for concern. BA likes the one back set with 2 TE's.

When you play against a defense playing all those men up near the LOS, you simply can not and will not block all of them. (The Cards blitzed on the 1st 3 plays of the game last night). The FB can help in this. A FB who is capable, let me say. I don't like any of our FB's right now. Now, with that being said, when an opposing defense plays that way, we have to able to get the ball down the field and that's what Ben does so well and why this offense is successful.

[feltdizz]

Re: Steelers Oline - Yesterday vs Today

Some of you are overreacting if you ask me. 1st of all, you got 2 guys out, and again as I've said this for the past 2 seasons going on 3, since BA took over the play calling- Not having a FB in there on smash mouth football is a cause for concern. BA likes the one back set with 2 TE's.

When you play against a defense playing all those men up near the LOS, you simply can not and will not block all of them. (The Cards blitzed on the 1st 3 plays of the game last night). The FB can help in this. A FB who is capable, let me say. I don't like any of our FB's right now. Now, with that being said, when an opposing defense plays that way, we have to able to get the ball down the field and that's what Ben does so well and why this offense is successful.

especially with FWP.. he runs much better with a FB...

that's what had me PO's with the first play.. the box is stacked and they blitz and we run the same tired play for 1 yard...

[steeld95]

Re: Steelers Oline - Yesterday vs Today

I thought the 2nd team OL looked pretty solid. Looked like they were opening better holes then the 1st team....although they were going against the Cards 2nd team DL

[flippy]

Re: Steelers Oline - Yesterday vs Today

We don't have a FB anymore.

[pfelix73]

Re: Steelers Oline - Yesterday vs Today

That's correct- A true FB like Kreider. We have to rely on Davis, McHugh, and/ or Miller even. I like BA's philosophy on paper that he can move a TE back there out of his formations, but let's face reality- a TE such as Miller just isn't going to get the job done when you want to pound the ball and impose your will on a defense. Miller can help protect the QB in passing situations, but as a FB?- I'll take a Kreider/ Lester/ or Witman instead.

This is the difference between us and say the Giants running the ball. The Giants have one of the best FB's in the NFL and he can hit. The Giants have a great running game and yes, they have a great OL, but they also have a great FB to go along with that OL. Not to mention they also have an OC that likes having a FB in his formations.

We may not see a big change in our running ability until we either see a change in BA's coaching philosphies or even a new OC. I'd like to see BA get a HC position next year, but that may not happen considering I'm expecting a late run for this team well into January and February- if you know what I'm taking about- #7.

There's more to it than just our OL.

[Lebsteel]

Re: Steelers Oline - Yesterday vs Today

Darnell looks HOFer in comparision to Trai Essex. Trai got beat like drum yesterday. He is another turnstile.

Tony Hills, Ramon Foster looked good but again they were playing against the scrubs.

Doug and Shipley also looked good. Maybe Steelers can check if Doug can play RG. He will do better than Trai IMO.

How did Ubrik played? I did not see him yesterday at all.

I watched the game again last night concentrating on the O-Line play. I watched a lot of plays in slow motion and was VERY impressed with the second/third team line.

--Tony Hills was outstanding in pass protection at both left and right tackle. He was extremely quick coming out of his stance. If you watch in slow motion, it looks like he is almost going too soon, but he is apparently just that quick. That is good news. He never he came close to allowing someone to touch the quarterback.

--Kraig Urbik looked very good on running and passing plays. He was very active and pushed defenders downfield consistently. He did have one play where he was beaten to his left on a pass play. The last touchdown went his way and he did a good job of leading the way for Redman.

--Jason Capizzi looked pretty good at left and right tackle. He is much slower than Hills but maybe a little stronger.

--A.Q. Shipley played around three quarters and looked very quick and was consistently holding his position on pass plays. On runs, he was always looking for someone to hit and got very good push. He looked a little better than Legursky, but it seemed like he played more snaps, so that may not be a fair comparison.

--Jeremy Parquet committed two penalties and was only average in my opinion.

--Ramon Foster looked pretty good and looked fairly nimble as a pulling left guard.

I was also very impressed with Isaac Redman's running. He ran like a man who wants to make the team. He had some quick spin moves as well as a very good push on the short yardage plays. They commented that he was the only player to score in the Steelers goal line drills in practice.

[papillon]

Re: Steelers Oline - Yesterday vs Today

I don't expect the OL to be better because you have the same group of average players in the game. The Steelers basically had all their success running right last year and that will probably be the case again this year. Starks is not a physical OL. No reason to think that will change now. Kemo consisitently misses assignments and that probably won't change either. I also loved the illegal formation penalty against Colon. What would a Steeler game be without Colon getting a penalty.

At some point, this organization is going to have to invest major capital in the OL. Hopefully Ben will remain healthy until that happens.

They already have invested major capital in the O-line; both, Starks and Kemo signed long term deals that weren't cheap. The O-line is going to have to be developed by Zeirlein and Arians.

Pappy