It starts from the Inside

Hey guys, first time poster, although I have been an active reader of this blog for a couple years now, and decided it was about time to get my feet wet.

I often read all the comments, and have noticed that there are a tonne of people clamorring for a shutdown corner in the first round, which I strongly disagree with in terms of eying that as our biggest need, although if a certain player were to drop and warrant a "Best Player Available" type of situation, then I may be all for it.

Before I go any further I'd like to note that this is all my entire opinion, and is not meant as a shot at other peoples opinions. If i come across as ignorant, I apologise.

#1 corner, or often spoken of as "Shutdown corner" really bothers me. I have noticed that a few people have said we need a shutdown corner in the draft or free agency.

If I were to name the amount of shutdown cornerbacks in this league, my list is only two people long. Darelle Revis and Nnamdi Asomugha with Charles Woodson being very very close. Game in game out, these guys do nearly everything right and leave their Wide Receiver counterparts irrelevant. Nnamdi Asomugha is so good that quarterbacks wont even TRY to throw in his direction. Woodson is tested a lot, and often comes out on top with some great route jumping, but also gets beat bad every now and then. Revis is just insane.

The next tier down is the range of so called Number One cornerbacks, by which, these guys hold their own pretty well, and a lot of them are on the cusp of true shutdown greatness, but never hold the consistancy to truly be known as a shutdown corner.

Names like Asante Samuel, Ike Taylor and Leon Hall come up in this conversation, and guys like Nate Clements, Al Harris and Ronde Barber were all number one corners in their better years.

Cornerbacks very rarely jump in and are brilliant straight away. A lot of the best guys took a few years to develop into a starter. Some guys perform brilliantly in the nickel, but are never suited to be a starter in man on man situations.

William Gay rings a bell right about now, although I feel a year of being torched, gives him a tonne of tape to work on, and could make significant strides his second year. I also see Joe Burnett developing into a solid cornerback, with a little more control and instincts. He jumps routes very very well, but also jumps on play action and pump fakes.

Anyways to getting down to my point. You cant just say "We need a number one corner" or "draft a shutdown corner in round one" and expect it to happen just like that.

I saw some people clamoring for Antonio Cromartie, which is a joke. The guy is softer than my sisters teddy bears. Not a steeler footballer, hes a guy who lived on being a zone corner with solid partners like Jammer doing the dirty work.

Now I'm getting to my point. Defensive and Football success starts from the inside. From the front lines. Much like the army, its the ones leading the charge in the trenches that are able to set up the rest of the gameplan.

If you have a solid offensive line and defensive line, you should win football games. There are of course always differences in team mentality and gameplan, but that is usually a one hit wonder type of scenario.

Sometimes the difference between being an average/solid/elite Offensive line is often the ability to make one last nudge, hold the block for an extra half to full second. Its the difference between a running back getting a clean lane into the second level, or being ankle clipped because a defender got his hand free.

Good offensive lines make or break some running back and quarterbacks careers. Looking at Marc Bulger is a great example. Orlando Pace in his prime still, and Bulger hit 4300 yards and less than ten interceptions. He was protected much better from his blindside. Pace gets injured and Bulgers career has been in a massive decline since.

Same situations can apply on the defensive side.

Cornerback success is reliant heavily on pass rush. You'll notice that the worst Passing Yardage Allowed teams in the league, often have terrible pass rush or sack count.

Guys like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are masters at looking off defenses and using pump fakes to deter defenders. Get a good pass rush to bull the offensive line backwards, and suddenly they do not have the time to throw the pump fake, to turn their head the opposite direction, to step up into their throw.

Cornerbacks are probably the least important position on the defense, yet they are the pretty boys of the league with their interceptions and touchdown returns. But as we saw in that hilarious link by Johnny_S in the six pack, they are often reluctant to get their head down and make tackles.

Im sort of old school in my approach, but I see if you have a good offensive line and and a good defensive line, you will always be in the conversation of playoff hopefuls.

The Steelers have been in contention nearly every year of this decade, because they have had a great defensive line and continuity. Last year, the front office showed last year that they believe continuity with the O-Line, and for the most part we had great success, especially running the ball, when of course, our much maligned OC ran the ball.

It starts from the inside, and works it way out. Casey Hampton stays at the anchor. I would be very surprised to see any thing other than an Offensive Guard or Tackle or Defensive Lineman taken in the first two rounds.

Casey Hamptons extension gives us time, but we still need his eventual replacement. We have Evander Hood to wait in the wings behind Aaron Smith, and Sonny Harris could well prove to be the eventual man to replace Brett Keisel, if or when his production drops off.

To try and some up my rambling. The lines set up everything for everyone else. It also helps to have a long haired ballhawking safety who can attack from anywhere.

Anyways, looking forward to interacting a little more with you guys, looks like we have some real characters here.