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Coaches, teammates have been watching Steelers left tackle Mike Adams since his benching

The key for offensive coordinator Todd Haley and left guard Ramon Foster have been how Adams has handled the adversity that's come with his rocky second season.

By Christopher Carter
Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

"After crosses and losses men grow humbler and wiser."

Mike Adams has an opportunity to make Benjamin Franklin's age old words on humility an analogy of Mike Adams' second year.

After being benched earlier this season, Mike Adams has had to work on several parts of his game to get his job back. The lowlight of the early part of the season was being embarrassed in London by the Minnesota Vikings' Jared Allen. After that Adams took a back seat and the team traded with the Arizona Cardinals to get Levi Brown as his replacement.

But injuries and other problems with the offensive line have provided Adams with another opportunity. His coaches and teammates have been watching how he dealt with the benching and noted the former Ohio State Buckeye's resilience.

How you handle adversity is really the key thing," offensive coordinator Todd Haley said. "You can handle it a couple different ways, and he's chosen to handle it in a positive manner, and he has pushed harder to get better knowing that his opportunity would come up again."

Indeed it makes a lot of sense that Adams would get another opportunity within the same season he was benched. The Steelers' offensive line has been a constant supplier of patients to the Steelers' training staff with injuries. But now it seems that Adams may be a much improved player from before.

Teammate Ramon Foster has been watching Adams carefully. After seeing Adams benched earlier this season, Foster said it was important to see how the second year player responded without anyone trying to coddle him. Foster likes what he sees in Adams as he has dealt with being pushed back on the depth chart.

"He understands that he has to focus more," guard Ramon Foster said. "It humbled him and brought him back to square one on how to work. When you have been humbled, you have realized what happened, and he did because he lost his starting position."

Adams will start this Sunday against Miami in a pivotal game that for the Steelers. He has not made any excuses or eluded to the possibility that suffering a stab wound this Summer may be why he has not progressed as he knows he should have.

If Adams can show up for the final quarter of the season, it may shift the need for a 1st round pick elsewhere on the Steelers' roster and solidify Adams with another chance to earn a long term starting spot at Pittsburgh's left tackle position. Look to see how his fundamentals have improved this Sunday, and to see if we see more of that focus that Foster acknowledges.

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