The NFL Top 100 countdown was down to the top 61-70 this week.  There had been no Steelers on the list up until this point.  The first Steeler showed up at number 63.  Steelers OLB LaMarr Woodley was selected to be on the list.  He is more then deserving.

Woodley came in at [...]]]>

The NFL Top 100 countdown was down to the top 61-70 this week.  There had been no Steelers on the list up until this point.  The first Steeler showed up at number 63.  Steelers OLB LaMarr Woodley was selected to be on the list.  He is more then deserving.

Woodley came in at number 82 last season.  I thought there would be a chance Woodley would be snubbed from this list.  He missed 6 games due to injury and only played in parts of 3 other games.  I thought that might push him off the list.  It is nice to see that I was wrong.  The fact that Woodley moved up 19 spots shows how much other players respect his game.  Woodley was on his way to a possible defensive player of the year before the injury.  Woodley had compiled 9 sacks in his first 8 games.  He was in the middle of a 4 game multi sack streak.

Woodley was asked to do more while James Harrison was out four games with injury.  He did just that and more.  While Harrison was out Woodley compiled 7.5 sacks.  The team was excited to get Harrison and Woodley back together.  Woodley went down with injury the game before Harrison returned.

The two never really got to play together the rest of the season.  One or the other was out in every game after that.  Even when Woodley was in he was not 100%.  Woodley did not record a sack the rest of the season.  He was missing some strength and some burst with the hamstring injury.

Woodley deserved to be on this list.  I am glad he made it.  If he would have had a whole season without injury he probably would have been a whole lot higher.

This makes the most sense. [...]]]> Ed Bouchette is reporting that Marcus Gilbert will remain on the right side where he belongs.  That means rookie OT Mike Adams will be placed on the left side.  The Steelers told Willie Colon he was moving to left guard with full intentions of making Adams the Left Tackle.

This makes the most sense.  Gilbert is a better right tackle then he is a left.  Adams is built to play left tackle.  This team will be better for this.  They have all preseason and training camp to get ready to play together.  This group may spend more time on the field then usual in the preseason just to get some chemistry.

So your Steelers starting offensive line going into training camp is:

• LT- Mike Adams
• LG- Willie Colon
• C- Maurkice Pouncey
• RG- David DeCastro
• RT- Marcus Gilbert

Jolly came out of North Carolina.  He is a right tackle only.  He will spend time in camp with the Steelers but [...]]]> The Steelers have signed OT Kyle Jolly to the 90 man roster.  Jolly was last with Atlanta but has spent some time with the Steelers.  He was on the teams practice squad. 

Jolly came out of North Carolina.  He is a right tackle only.  He will spend time in camp with the Steelers but has a very low chance of making the team.

Mike Prisuta is reporting that Willie Colon  is the new Left Guard for the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The tweet is a direct quote from Colon.  This is great news in my opinion.  It means that Mike Adams will start.  That Marcus Gilbert will stay at Right Tackle and we now have a more then [...]]]>

Mike Prisuta is reporting that Willie Colon  is the new Left Guard for the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The tweet is a direct quote from Colon.  This is great news in my opinion.  It means that Mike Adams will start.  That Marcus Gilbert will stay at Right Tackle and we now have a more then solid offensive line.

This should have happened years ago.  Colon was projected as a guard out of college and the Steelers forced him into a position he was not expected to play at the NFL level.  Colon has trouble with speed rushers and can not be left on an island by himself.  He is now protected on both sides.  He has Pouncey to explain the plays to him on the inside and Mike Adams potentially on his left.  This sets up nicely for the Steelers moving forward.

I am not a Colon fan but he could be a good guard.  He was not built to be a tackle in the NFL.  This position will suit him better.  It will show off his strengths and cover up his weaknesses.

This move makes the most sense.  There was no point in moving Gilbert to Left Tackle for one year.  There was no point in forcing Colon on the right side when we had a better option.  I thought this would be a battle all summer.  I thought that the Steelers would try to keep Colon at Right Tackle.  I am happy I was wrong.

Just another reason to be thankful Arians is gone.  To him Colon was the best right tackle in the league.  That was never true.  Arians tried to cover the fact that the line was bad by talking them up.  He never really did anything to fix it though. He just kept plugging in the same guys and it only got worse.  Every time something new and good happens it always seems to come back to something Arians refused to do.

I like the direction the Steelers are moving in.  This team is getting better all around.

Todd Haley has handed out the Steelers new playbook.  From the reaction of the players it is nothing like the playbook Bruce Arians has put out in the past.  Ben Roethlisberger compared it to learning “Rosetta Stone”.  That is expected when a new coordinator comes in.  You get his playbook rather [...]]]>

Todd Haley has handed out the Steelers new playbook.  From the reaction of the players it is nothing like the playbook Bruce Arians has put out in the past.  Ben Roethlisberger compared it to learning “Rosetta Stone”.  That is expected when a new coordinator comes in.  You get his playbook rather than the one you were using.

There were two comments though that stood out to me with the players talking about the new playbook.  One was from Ben Roethlisberger and the other from Emmanuel Sanders.

Roethlisberger when asked about the similarities in the playbook:

“The similarities would be on a shorter list. Off the top of my head, from what I’ve seen so far, there’s a 90 percent change.”

Emmanuel Sanders tweet about the depth of the playbook:

This new playbook is something serious!!!!! Bout to go old-school and make some flashcards.

Both liken the playbook to a completely new world.  It makes this playbook seem more in depth and brand new.  A playbook from a new coach should be new but not 90% new.  If the Steelers had a good playbook before it would be 50-60% new.  The overall scheme may change some but the plays even with new terminology should not be that different.  It should not be that out of the ordinary.  These two guys saying it is tells us even more about Bruce Arians.

Fans have been complaining for years about how predictable Bruce Arians was with the Steelers scheme.  We all knew what type of play was coming when the Steelers would line up on offense.  So did our opponents.  They knew where the ball was going before the ball was even snapped.  It showed in our offense.  It showed in Roethlisberger’s grimace when he would get hit.  We have all of these weapons and yet we can not score points.  This makes sense as to why now.

People questioned the offensive line.  They questioned Ben Roethlisberger.  They questioned the wide receivers.  The main question they asked was why does Ben hold on to the ball so long and take hits?  Yes the offensive line was inconsistent.  Yes Ben likes to be a hero.  No the receivers did not get open.  Now we understand though that the receivers may have not been able to get open because Arians playbook was so easy to figure out that it took more time for them to get open.  If the defense knew what was coming they could roll the coverage to the play.  If no one is open Ben had to hold the ball so he got hit more.  So even though you can put some blame on the players most of it should go to Arians.

There were so many times when I sat on the couch and said that guy missed his hot read.  Ben should have hit him right off the bat.  The blitz was coming.  Now seeing how much these guys think Haley’s playbook is so in depth it makes me wander if they did miss their hot read or not.  Was there even a true hot read?  Or, was a bubble screen Arians way of having a hot read?

How easy and how much lack of depth was there in Arians playbook?  Roethlisberger is looking for his position coach to not throw to much at him at one time in the new playbook.  That is fine this early but the fact that he needs to really take it slow shows how little was actually in Arians playbook.  Sanders wanting to get flash cards to learn the plays says even more.  Sanders is a film room junkie.  While injured he eluded to making his friends angry because he would watch the live game like he was watching film.  He is a student of the game.  For him to be this taken a back by the playbook says we needed a new playbook.

So while these guys may take some time to get used to the new playbook it will help them in the end.  They are going from a predictable offense which seemed to be pretty vanilla to and offense run by Haley that will play to their strengths.  They will get better routes.  They will read coverages and they will find holes in the defense.  That will give them the ability to get open faster.  It will make the line look better.  It will get the ball out of Roethlisberger’s hands faster so he gets hit less.  Thus we will score more points.  The pressure can be taken off of the defense a little bit.  They can get some rest.  It will make the entire team better.

So even if it takes all summer to learn.  It seems like Haley’s new playbook is going to be worth it.  This offense will be better under Haley.

The Steelers drafted Marcus Gilbert last season to possibly be the future left tackle of the Pittsburgh Steelers.  When the season started Gilbert was second string behind Jonathan Scott.  The Steelers went with the veteran at Left Tackle.  Gilbert was expected to be the swing tackle behind Scott and Colon.

Then Willie Colon [...]]]>

The Steelers drafted Marcus Gilbert last season to possibly be the future left tackle of the Pittsburgh Steelers.  When the season started Gilbert was second string behind Jonathan Scott.  The Steelers went with the veteran at Left Tackle.  Gilbert was expected to be the swing tackle behind Scott and Colon.

Then Willie Colon went down with a season ending injury in game one against the Ravens.  It forced Gilbert into the lineup to play Right Tackle.  He played the entire season at Right Tackle and did not do a bad job.  As the season went along Gilbert progressed and became a good right tackle.  He seemed suited for the position.

Coming into the offseason though, the Steelers let Gilbert know that he should prepare to play Left Tackle next season.  Willie Colon can not play the left side and god knows the Steelers will never put Jonathan Scott there ever again unless they have to.  So Gilbert had to shift to that side.  He played the position in college and is the best option we have at left tackle.

That was until we drafted Mike Adams.  Adams is a prototypical sized left tackle.  Adams is 6’7 and 325 pounds.  He has long arms and can engulf a defender.  Adams is what many teams salivate for when it comes to that type of player.

Adams should not have fallen to the second round.  He was the second best left tackle prospect on my board.  He had some issues with marijuana in college and at the combine.  He also was involved in the Ohio State scandal and had to miss 5 games his senior year because of it.  Add to that Adams has always had natural talent and would tend to get lazy at times and boom he ends up in the second round.

The Steelers could not have been more happy that he did.  Adams was off the Steelers draft board after lying to the team about the drug use before the combine.  He personally requested a meeting with the team.  They did not seek him out.  Adams came in genuinely apologetic and let the team know he would do anything to try to be a Steeler.  The Steelers gave him some objectives to reach if he wanted back in.  Adams reached those objectives and the Steelers decided he was worth the risk.

The Steelers had Adams rated as a first round prospect.  He was a left tackle on their board and that is where he will practice this offseason.  It was his position in college and it seems to be the one he is best suited for in the NFL.  The Steelers are counting on Adams to get his head on straight.  If he does and he gets the coaching he needs from Sean Kugler, which he will, then the team got a Pro Bowl type left tackle in the second round of the draft.  It could not be more of a win.

So if Adams is the future at left tackle I think he also needs to be the  present as well.  It may cause some bumps and bruises at the beginning but the team will be better for it.  Why is this?  It is because Marcus Gilbert can stay on the right side and play the position he was meant to play.  The line can grow together.  They are all young and could grow up as a group.  The more chemistry they get now the better they will be in 2013 and beyond.

To switch Gilbert to the left side for one season is ridiculous.  He is a RIGHT TACKLE.  That is what I had him pegged to be when he went into the draft and he proved last season that he can grow into a force at right tackle instead of an adequate left tackle.  That is where he belongs.  It is where he will be the better player.

That being said he is still developing.  He still has plenty of room to grow.  He is still getting down the technique and the footwork for the right side.  To move him to the left side to learn those techniques all over again will only slow him down when you have to move him back next season.  Adams will be the left tackle by 2013.  If that is the case this will just put Gilbert a year behind.  He will have to start all over again.  He will have to learn a new position for a third time in 3 years.  It will impede his development.

Many really good offensive linemen have tried to switch from the left side to the right side late in their careers to try and stay in the league and struggled.  Why put this struggle on Gilbert?  He proved where he belonged last season and he has the ability to stay there now with the addition of Adams.  I do not care how much Willie Colon’s contract makes it so he has to be on this team.  His contract doesn’t say he is better then Gilbert, nor does it say he has to start.  When it was just Colon and Gilbert sure it made sense.  Now it doesn’t.

This offensive line has the ability to be set in stone right now.  Coach Kugler has already talked about how the team wants to get one offensive line out there all the time.  He was forced to shift guys around in the past due to injuries and poor play.  He now has the guys that he needs to build a strong offensive line.  He is not going to want to have guys switch positions year in and year out.  He wants stability.  He wants to put these young guys in and get the ball rolling.

The Steelers offensive line should have Adams at LT, Pouncey at C, DeCastro at RG, and Gilbert at RT.  Colon, Foster and Legursky can fight for the last spot on the line.  But what your line is going to look like for the next 10 years is sitting right in front of you now.  They can grow up with one another and dominate the line of scrimmage.  Why slow that down and push it back a year or two.  You can get the bumps and bruises out of the way now and dominate sooner rather then later.

Gilbert is the Right Tackle.  Leave him be and let him and this group grow.