Ben was better as our line got better. our rushing offense got better as well. It isn’t our entire offense. Ben is a winning QB. Recievers are good. Parker is fast, Moore gains yards. Good pick-up by Rams, though.

they are going to keep getting better if last year was any indication. They lost their two top OL, Smith and Simmons, but by the playoffs and SB, they were decent. You add Hills to the mix as he starts to challenge for a slot, possibly draft another OL second round (?), and its solid – definitely no super stars, but workable. If they get improved play from Sweed and Mendenhall, the offense will get better. And most importantly, they are on average, young on the offensive lineup.

The main issue is there is only so much money and defense still wins the big prize.

They are getting long in the tooth on defense. They need replacements on the DL and they have to plan for the departure of Harrison. I think due to the expense and age – if the Steelers stick with their philosophy of not overpaying for aging superstars, Harrison will be gone (not expecting that to be popular). So they will need LB help also. And every team in the NFL looks for secondary help, there is a perpetual shortage of CBs and we all see how much difference a stud at safety can make to overall defensive performance. We have a stud and a half actually with Troy and Clark.

So I’m hoping the Steelers don’t overreact to the OL sentiment and keep ther eye on what got them to another SB, defense.

 I understood franchising Starks, I thought it was extreme but I understood but Chris K was mind boggling even considering only $6 mil is guaranteed, it’s the Simmons mistake all over again and now we are looking to lock up Starks long term which is not a bad Idea but that in itself doesn’t make it a good one either.

Well Kemo actually took slightly less money from the Steelers than he would have gotten from the Jets – so we’re keeping a guy for below market value. I’m not saying that he’s a steal, but that by market standards we didn’t overpay for a guy of his talents and it stands to reason that he might improve.

The other good thing about Kemo is it gives the FO more flexibility with the draft. Certainly nobody would criticize Cobert for picking the best lineman available with the 32 pick – be it Mack, Robinson, or one of the second-tier tackles – it gives us the ability to go BPA if somebody happens to fall our way (a CB or DE would be welcome). We probably will pick a lineman with the 32nd, but with Kemo we don’t absolutely have to.

Hey man I share some of your disappointment but it is what it is. Given a choice between winning the SB and keeping the offensive coaching status quo, and losing the SB and changing it, I will take the former, thank you very much. And you know I share your low opinion of Arians, the offensive scheme and the talent of our OL. I’ll just point out that the off-season is far from over. We’ve cleared out some major deadwood. We have nine OL under contract and the bottom four (Hills, Parquet, Capizzi and Legursky) have a total of two NFL games’ experience. At this point the only two OL on the roster who have a guaranteed contract for 2010 are Kemoeatu and Hills. It all adds up to more changes being made this off-season.

We will sign another veteran FA OL before the draft, obviously on the cheap considering cap space. There are plenty of guys available who could replace Colon or Stapleton without costing an arm and a leg. Without speculating too much about the draft, I would just suggest that Alex Mack (or even Max Unger or Eric Woods as a second-rounder) could step in and play LG very quickly, allowing Kemo to move to RG and thus improve two spots. G Duke Robinson could accomplish the same thing although I’m not as high on him as any of the three top-ranked centers. Marvel Smith started at right OT in his rookie year as a second-rounder so it’s not out of the question by any means that the same could happen this year. Any OL drafted in the first three or four rounds (and Hills, but let’s not go there again) will get ample opportunity to compete for a starting job. The situation is far from settled yet and I’m sure the offense is Mike Tomlin’s top priority in Year 3. I kinda like what he has done so far when something gets to the top of his to-do list.

We are not losing any linemen from last year, so our line should be no worse. Plus, some of the young guys (Stapler and Kemo) will hopefully get better. This team could be the “team to beat” with an OL that is even slightly better.

Don’t try telling me Chris K isn’t half as good as Jason Brown. There’s a reason no one thought Jason Brown was a superstar before the season was over: he wasn’t. A player’s expected value often gets inflated by hype in free agency (whether by optimistic GMs, effective agents, or a shortage of talent on the market). We have a slightly below average guard for half the price of an average one. I call that a good offseason move.

Sometimes players get better, sometimes they don’t. I honestly thought Colon would be better in Year 2 after a tough first season as a starter. Didn’t happen. I would agree with Carl in the sense that Kemo IS about half as good as Jason Brown. But that’s a huge difference. Kemo is a four-year pro, not a rookie. He might not get any better than what he is: a huge guy who doesn’t get much push in close quarters, can’t handle quick D-lineman, is often undisciplined, and the light upstairs, if it ever comes on, emanates from a 15-watt bulb. I loved Max Starks’ line as the offense took the field for the final drive of the SB: “We are built for this.” And they were. They were built to get a holding penalty on first down, making the Cardinals overconfident. They were built to allow an instant pass rush on 1st-and-20, leading to the Cardinals getting exhausted from running after Ben and trying to cover receivers for seven seconds. At that point they had the Cardinals right where they wanted them: deflated from misplaced overconfidence, gun-shy in their defensive calls and physically exhausted.

Anyway badmaafala, joking aside, there is no way the Steelers can go into the draft with one guard under contract and they kept Kemo for a modest amount, so it’s a practical business move. In fact, they were quite prepared to lose him to the Jets, who didn’t exactly break the bank in their offer to Kemo either. It is frustrating to see money spent chasing after mediocre players (for another example, spending $2.2 million on a tendered offer to Colon when $1.54 million would have been enough). But, blowing things up is just not the Steeler way and that’s a good thing. They’ve cleared the way to future improvement by getting rid of Smith and Simmons. It’s a good first step and a sign that the FO does notice and does care. Don’t underestimate Tomlin’s influence in getting the offense on track. When he won’t go for a TD on fourth-and-half-a-foot in the first quarter of a SB, you KNOW he’s admitting the offensive line isn’t good enough. Cheer up man!!

I know your down on the Kemo signing, and down on him in general…I happen to disagree.

It seems with the OL debate we have two sides…the opptomistic side and the pessismistic side. Count me as an optomist. Believe me, I get your points about the pessimistic view.

The thing I completely disagree with in you above posts is…“coaching staff and FO don’t seem to notice or care.” Come on, Bad…do you really think there is anything our organization is really not going to notice? do you really think the coaches, FO are just forgetting to upgrade OL? do you really think coach Tomlin doesn’t really care? do you think he is willing to settle for average?

Or is it simply their opinion differs from yours? Maybe they think Kemo is better than you (and other nay-sayers) give him credit for…obviously Jets think so. I know you want more movement, signings, trades etc to improve OL (as do we all) but I fully trust coach Tomlin, Colbert, FO are doing exactly what they feel is best for our team.

So, I understand your concerns but I urge you to reconsider your statement about our coaches/FO not noticing or caring. Maybe that could happen with other organizations, but not with the our Steelers.

Look I honestly dont think this is a bad thing.

We’ve retained our entire starting O-Line from last year. Sounds horrible? But consider how improved they got over the year? We started seeing less eagles games (9 sacks) and more lower ones towards the end.

They can only improve.

When have we EVER blown big money on an FA? Seems like its worked so far right.

The methodology works here, dont get too upset.

Waters is a quality guy and a top player, and on top of that is relatively cheap. He has three years remaining on a contract that pays him just over $5 million per year. He has been an All-Pro left guard the last four years despite the team around him declining and at 32 is still obviously playing at a high level. He was the Chiefs’ nominee this season for the NFL Man of the Year Award for his community work. He’s a vocal leader and hard worker who came into the league as an undrafted tight end. It’s very difficult to inject a “leader” into a locker room but Waters is that kind of guy who would fit in instantly, providing leadership and talent into the offensive line. He was also the Chiefs player union rep so he commands a lot of respect from fellow players. The Chiefs lost a second-round draft pick to the Patriots in the Cassell deal so probably want to add a few. We have extra picks in the third and fifth rounds. They are also shifting to a 3-4 and are hurting for linebackers. We have Larry Foote with one year left on his contract at $4 million. I’d offer Foote and a third-round draft pick. Buddha’s point about leadership needed on the O-line is right on and Waters would provide that, plus talent, plus allowing Kemo to shift to RG, plus being a good bargain even if we renegotiated his salary up a few notches with money saved from Foote. As rare as it is for the Steelers to pursue a trade, this one would make great sense from every angle.

Like you I tend to be more of an optimist.

I understand why your wavering. Lets keep the faith a little longer and see how the rest of free agency plays out and then the draft. I would be shocked and a little disappointed if we don’t spend 2 high picks on the OL.

We will see…

the d-line seemed like at least as much in need of new blood as the o-line. What has changed to make it tip towards o-line so much? perhaps the coaching?

I agree that we might be settling. However, I also wonder what else we could do. I think the problem I had this year was the lack of competition at the o-line spots. You can’t tell me that Max Starks isn’t a better RT then Willie Colon. Well you could tell me that but I’d laugh at you.

I don’t agree that trading both Rashard and Limas for Clady would be the best move for the future. And I don’t agree that giving Jason Brown a huge contract would be a solution. We’re against the cap this year and we were last year too. Hartwig was a good puzzle piece and the jury is still out on Hills. Does signing Brown mean losing Harrison and Starks? That cap room must come from somewhere.

I think the key here will be whether they go against BPA and restock the oline. If they spend 2 of their top 4 picks on o-line I’ll be happy. I want some talent fighting for playing time. And if in the meantime it’s our current line I think we’ll win a lot of games with that line. They’re not great, heck they’re not even good, but they’ve played basically a whole year together and stopped giving up as many stupid sacks toward the end of the season. They still got physically beat sometimes, but at least the mental errors were cleaned up.

vie.