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Starks Done For Year

Looks like T.Essex will get the start against Jax. Starks has a meniscus injury that will require surgery according to the Post-Gazette:

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/08001/845874-66.stm

Also in here is a note that C. Kriewaldt has been placed on IR.

Silver Lining: At least we will be able to see Essex in action in order to evaluate if he has a future in this league.

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Damn.
Reading the Post Gazette this morning I noticed an article about it not being a good time to play sports in Pittsburgh because of all the injuries.  Aaron Smith, Starks, M Smith with the Steelers.  Gary Roberts, Mark Eaton with the Pens and now Fields and Cook for Pitt.  This has to stop.

by Jack58 on Jan 1, 2008 5:17 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Absolutely sucks
Hopes are fading fast.

Essexx is a restricted free agent after the season so at least he has the motivation to play for his job and maybe Starks valued is lowered by the injury.

"The more violent team will win tonight" - Mike Tomlin.

by cgolden on Jan 1, 2008 5:58 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

essex was ok
in his three quarters of play.  the right side and center is more the worry.  

by TheMostViolentTeam on Jan 1, 2008 10:46 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

essex will be fine
trai essex will be ok.  he is a really good pass protector but shaky in run blocking because he isn't real nasty.  he'll keep big ben clean but i don't know how many holes he'll create.
fan in korea

by steel town76 on Jan 2, 2008 3:16 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

sounds like you're right on
JJ Cooper, who blogs for AOL Fanhouse and regularly breaks down OL play, has a similar opinion of Essex.
The good news if you're a Steelers fan is that Essex wasn't an absolute disaster. In fact, if you compare Essex' game to Marvel Smith's game against the Jaguars the last time the two teams played, Essex was clearly superior. Essex didn't allow a sack, and only allowed two hurries in three quarters of action. Admittedly Terrell Suggs and Haloti Ngata didn't seem particularly interested in giving exceptional efforts (Suggs spent way too many plays content to simply lock up Essex and stand there), but facing a very good pass rusher, Essex held his own. He also showed good recognition when blitzes came, sliding out to make a nice block on a blitzing defensive back on one play and recognizing another blitz to hand off his man and slide outside.

The bad news is that the Steelers game plan becomes much more limited with Essex in there. While he's an adequate pass blocker, the Steelers still kept a running back or tight end in to help out Essex more than they ever did for Smith or Max Starks.

More importantly Essex is a terrible run blocker and the Steelers know it. Of the 16 runs the Steelers ran after Essex came into the game, only one of them was run to the left side. In most cases on running plays, the Steelers ran away from Essex, asking him only to stand there and guard the backside. When the Steelers had to ask Essex to run block in goal line situations, he struggled to lock off his man. On one play he fired off the ball well, but nearly completely whiffed on the block, landing in the end zone while his man was left free to pursue Najeh Davenport. As a run blocker Essex struggles to hit his target, struggles even more to lock up his man and drive him off the ball and is prone to losing his lock if he does get his hands on his man.

Can it really be possible that the right side of Colon and Simmons is the strong side now? I guess the good news is at least that means Faneca is pulling more now.

"The more violent team will win tonight" - Mike Tomlin.

by cgolden on Jan 2, 2008 1:07 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Faneca at LT??????
Two separate articles on NFL.com state the possibility that instead of Trai Essex starting at LT, the Steelers might move Faneca to LT and start Chris K at LG. I hadn't thought about that but considering that Faneca has played tackle during the past couple of years it might not be a bad idea. I'd rather get a look at Chris K than Essex but that's just me. Anyone else heard rumors of this?
Time to take the training wheels off this offense.

by cgolden on Jan 2, 2008 4:45 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Faneca Will Play Guard
Post Gazette in Pittsburgh is reporting that Essex will play T and Faneca will play G. The reason given is that Tomlin does not want to disrupt 2 spots on the O line. Faneca will switch to T if there is an injury during the game.
When You Run The Ball Good Things Happen

by 5020 on Jan 2, 2008 10:01 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

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