It's time, my 2 cents

by baltimore A-Train on Apr 25, 2009 9:56 AM EDT Comment 5 comments

Just a quick thought on the draft today and what our boys should do to keep our team getting better and better and making a run for number 7. First, I must say I can't wait to read everyday the thoughts of some of the regulars on this site. Great work by everyONE. Some of us will be right and some of us will be disappointed with our choices. Let's trust the FO that they know what needs to be done to keep us humming along. Now my thoughts: Many people, myself included couldn't stand the o-line last year and thought that would be our biggest need area. I have given that some long and hard thought, and I don't think we need to draft an o-lineman with the 1st pick. when you break it down, the o-line more than any other unit needs stablity and continunity more than any other, and we have had changes on our line for the last 3 years. Let's give these boys a full camp and a full year together and see what happens. If we draft an o-linemen is he really going to be that "good" that he starts from day one?(fourth year of changes on the line). Steeler football is first and foremost about D. that's where I think we should go.

1. D-line

2. corner

3.o-line

4. wr

5. DL

6 OL

7 CB/S

8.FB/RB

9.WR/KR

A-Train from Baltimore(I hate the ravens and they stank)

0 recs | Comment 5 comments | Add comment

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

I like the D-line emphasis...

Anyone think that Xavier Fulton (OT, Illinois) could make the jump to DE, since he played it for two years at Illinois? Just saying, because tall DTs and DEs should be scarcer with renewed emphasis on 3-4. I already posted this on another thread, but I fear it’s dead.

Who knew?

by Concomitandt on Apr 25, 2009 1:08 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Continuity

Even so I see you rank Oline third. No doubt to provide more depth which is sorely needed. My opinion is that the Oline in particular needs higher quality backup than the other team needs.

by steelerstyle on Apr 25, 2009 1:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

question

For BTSC readers I have a question you hopefully you could enlighten me. I like football but have not followed it closely enough to know some of it’s basics.

So heres my question: How is continuity affected by substitution players rotated in to rest the starters? and how is new talent brought in to pick up where older players are starting to decline?

by steelerstyle on Apr 25, 2009 1:51 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Answer

Continuity means you know who’s lining up beside you. You know where he will go, how he will react to a blitz, and you can feel confident in your decisions to make a block, or not, as it were, based on that knowledge. If a rookie lines up next to a 6 year vet, the vet will second guess himself, thinking he may have to make up for the rookie if he misreads something. That leads to the rookie not taking initiative, counting on the vet to cover his ass, if it happens alot. If you have a squad, offense or defense, that is familiar with each other, they can predict, with a good amount of accuracy, what those other 10 guys will do, and make decisions based on trust. Why do you think the Patsies were so good a few years ago? They had a solid team, that didn’t change very much. Back before free agency, there were these things called “dynasties”. (’70’s Steelers, ’80’s Bears, ’90’s Niners and Cowgirls, ETC.) Those teams were so dominant because they kept the same core of players. Players who worked with each other year in and year out, and therefore knew each other like they knew themselves.

Since I don’t really understand your second query, I shall leave it at that.

Thank you drive through.

It's alot harder to be a dad than a Steelers fan...

by SteelFever on Apr 25, 2009 2:52 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Appreciate the answer

I can understand the big role familiarity has with how players make decisions. Yet it brings to mind an obvious question. I assume that all starters didn’nt earn a spot at the beginning of the season and then played the whole season. I thought it was general practice around the league to substitute in second stringers during the game to keep the starters fresh and not just the end of the fourth quarter. Also it gives the rookies some experience in game situations.

With that said Is itt that each lineman gets familiar with not just the guy playing next to him but also with that guys backup??

by steelerstyle on Apr 30, 2009 8:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs