The weak get weaker
September 1, 2009
By Donald Starver
Among the many things that you generally find along the sidelines of a typical NFL game, I think the Steelers are going to need to add another; surgeons. I can’t see any other way to insure the health and safety of our $100 million franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
Perhaps I’m being a pessimist. I really don’t mean to see the glass as half empty. But I just don’t see any other alternative.
The Steelers announced that guard/center Darnell Stapleton was being placed on the injured reserve list. Stapleton had arthroscopic surgery on his knee in early August, but his knee has not responded as expected, so he was placed on IR and will miss the entire 2009 season.
Darnell Stapleton
So an offensive line that was already one of the most porous in the NFL is losing one of their starters. That can’t possibly be a good thing.
Stapleton, an undrafted free agent out of Rutgers, moved into the starting line-up last year when Kendall Simmons injured his Achilles.
Prior to injuring his Achilles tendon, Simmons was one of the most criticized of the Steelers’ offensive linemen. In his last 1.5 years with the Steelers, Simmons looked more like a matador than an offensive lineman. Nevertheless, prior to Simmons’ injury, Stapleton had not been able to displace him.
When he finally did replace Simmons, Stapleton did a solid, but unspectacular, job. He was part of an offensive line that gave up 6 billion sacks (at least it seemed like 6 billion). That performance definitely didn’t inspire great confidence in Steelers fans.
Now, with Stapleton out for the year, he is going to be replaced in the starting line-up by Trai Essex.
Trai Essex
Essex, a 5th year pro out of Northwestern University, is a career backup who has never been able to break into the starting line-up despite high expectations when he was drafted. In fact, the veteran Essex couldn’t beat out the undrafted Stapleton when a position finally did open up. Now it appears that injury, rather than merit, will finally make Essex a starter.
So if I follow the progression properly, the Steelers will be starting a career backup who couldn’t beat out an undrafted free agent who couldn’t beat out a player who looked more like a matador than an offensive lineman. Perhaps I misunderstood Darwin’s theory, but it appears that evolution seems to be working in reverse when it comes to the Steelers’ offensive line. The weak are getting weaker.
As an indirect result of Stapleton’s injury, Doug Legursky will probably make the Steelers’ 53-man roster. More reverse evolution.
I am always reminded by certain fans that the Steelers offensive line was good enough to win the Super Bowl. However, for some reason that just doesn’t leave me with a great deal of comfort. Heck, the Ravens won the Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer playing QB, but I still think they would have gladly replaced him with Dan Marino if they could have.
So now the Steelers will enter the 2009 season with Max Starks, Chris Kemoeatu, Justin Harwig, Trai Essex, and Willie Colon protecting Big Ben. The optimist in me hope that this group will finally prove to be a unit worthy of a Super Bowl champion. But the pessimist in me thinks the Steelers had better start interviewing surgeons.
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Let me see, 16 years with Marino and no Superbowls vs Dilfer and 1 Superbowl: DAH give me the ring, and stuff the statistics. I was 19 when we won SB14 and 45 for the next one SB40, 26 years is a long long time.
Essex is from Fort Wayne where I live so I am bias. That being said he has a great deal of playing time as no starting lineman plays and entire game without resting and breaks. He is a veteran that may or may not be starter material but if he could not do the job, we all know the Steelers would not keep him 5 years. And sometimes all a person needs to step up and prove themself is to actually be put into the job, he may have something to prove. Let’s sit back and trust the organization that has given us 6 superbowls.
1Hi Donald,
“So an offensive line that was already one of the most porous in the NFL is losing one of their starters. That can’t possibly be a good thing.”
Sure it can! Essex is just taking some time to develop, but he’s heavier than Stapleton, who we all saw get abused in the Super Bowl by Dockett. Stapleton is really ideally not a starting G but a C or C/G swing man. It was nice to get by with Stapleton last year, but you’re not talking about losing Alan Faneca here.
This will also free up a roster spot to keep a young guy like Ramon Foster and/or Doug Legursky, both of whom are a lot stronger than Stapleton, and we’ll have multiple guys with experience to compete for the center job in 2010 when Hartwig leaves.
And don’t pay any attention to who can beat out who on the Steelers line in camp. Zeirlein and Arians are bumbling fools who benched Starks for Colon and had no clue Starks could play LT until they were forced to. Their evaluations mean very little!!
Ben also gets hurt whether we have a good OL or not, so don’t stress too much over it. We will have these problems as long as A&Z are coaching this offense.
2let’s just hope it’ ends up being more of a rock/paper/scissors thing. simmons beats stapleton, stapleton beats essex, but essex beats simmons.
3lon-ton,
4I love your analogy; rock/paper/scissors. Let’s hope that you are right, and that Essex beats Simmons.
Alegre,
5So if I understand you correctly, what you’re saying is you are a huge fan of Arians and Zeirlein. Did I get that right?
J. Carson,
There is a flaw in your logic. If the Baltimore Ravens had had Dan Marino, they’d probably have 3 rings rather than 1.
I do trust the Steelers. However, I have been a fan long enough to remember many highly touted draft picks that didn’t work out. Anyone remember Huey Richardson? Aaron Jones? Mark Behning? Dave Brown? Jehn Meyer? Jamain Stephens? Kenny Davidson? Tim Worley? So in my opinion, the “just trust the Stelers front office” argument doesn’t really hold water. They are human. Sometimes they get it right, and sometimes they get it wrong.
6Yes, I’m a huge fan of Arians & Zeirlein. Somehow they manage to finish in the bottom half of the league in offense every year since they were hired. Amazing work!!
It’s hard to believe that these miracle workers are the same guys who were fired for leading the Cleveland Browns to offensive ranks of 31 (out of 31), 23, and 26 from 2001 to 2003. They might not even be coaching in the NFL if the Steelers hadn’t picked them up. But we are reaping the incredible benefits–our offense ranked 22nd last year. Thanks guys!!
7I am going to keep an open mind. Going into the offseason there were only a few big questions on the Steelers. All but one have been answered during the preseason.
1) Will Sepulveda be back at full strength (Yes)
2) Will we ever be able to improve the return game (Yes, thank you Mr. Logan)
3) Will McFadden or Washington be missed (No. Gay is as good as McFadden and Wallace, McDonald, and a 2nd year Sweed are as good as Washington, Baker, and a rookie Sweed).
4) Can we improve the O-line?
Answer: Unknown. The Steelers are banking on continuity and experience to improve the line play. The only new player on the line is Essex. He is faster, bigger, and stronger than Stapleton but has never won a starting job until now (by default). The new players (Urbik, Foster, Shipley) are all rookies who will not realistically have any impact this year. The other backups have no experience whatsoever. So, we are left praying that they continue their improvement from last year and have no injuries.
Ideally, I would have liked them to inject more talent into the line. That, however, is not going to happen this year so it makes little sense to argue about it.
Therefore, I am going to take the Reagan approach and “Trust but verify.” I will trust that the Steelers know what they’re doing (and be optomistic) but verify it by the play on the field. Colbert, Tomlin, and Arians have all signed off on this approach on the O-line and they will take the heat if it fails.
8The OL is certainly the easy mark as the weakest unit on the team, but why the bashing. Is it not enough to win the Superbowl? Is it necessary to finish in the top 5 offenses? Almost seems like some fans would rather have the 07 Pats than the 08 Steelers. As far as the concern over how a play was acquired- 2 words- James Harrison or 2 more- Willie Parker. Why can’t Essex, Legursky and the rest help the Steelers win another Superbowl? Why can’t an undrafted rookie be an upgrade over a former #1 pick? Player evaluation is not an exact science, every team makes mistakes. But I think we have to agree the Steelers make less than most. As to Arians- I don’t get the bashing. The offense last year meshed very nicely with the overall team concept and came up with the big plays to win the Super Bowl. I’ll take that over fantasy stats every year.
9donald,
Well, you have done it again! I agree 100% I tell friends all the time that I really worry about ben’s health. There is NO way Ben can stay in the league as long as, say, a Peyton Manning because of the hits he gets.
And one more thing. We have had 2 off seasons to build that line up and we pick RBs and every other position except O-line. Unbelievable. I remember the coaching staff commenting that R. Mendenhall was going to help the O-line because of his blocking ability and run threat.
So far all I have seen is his ability to put the O-line at risk for ankle injuries because of the loose balls he leaves under their feet.
Boy, glad I got that off my chest.
To you other guys, I agree the O-line was “good enough” to win a Superbowl last year. But losing one player is enough to make it “not quite good enough”
On the bright side, many a player becomes great when thrusted into the starting line-up because of injury (i.e. M. Moore). Who knows, we may luck up here. Let’s get behind Essex.
But let’s also be honest. Our O-line is probably in the bottom 5 – 10 in the league. Don’t forget we still can’t run the dang ball!
10Slab,
I don’t mean to bash the offensive line. I truly hope that they mesh and become a dominant unit. However, I don’t see how any fan can see Big Ben taking 50 sacks per season as an acceptable performance. Sure, Ben holds the ball too long. We all know that. But we can’t run in short yardage situations either. That falls on the offensive line. Why deny the truth?
Was the line good enough to win the Super Bowl? Yes. Did we win most games because of the offensive line or in spite of the offensive line? Personally, I think the answer is the latter.
I do agree that many players have performed well despite their draft position. The players that you cited are great examples. But the offensive line is not performing the way Parker or Harrison did. I will give Essex an opportunity to show how good he can be. What other choice do we have. But I sure wish I could feel more comfortable that when it is third and 2, the Steelers even had a prayer of gaining the necessary yardage with the running game. Right now, I usually pray that they pass it in those situations. I never used to feel that way when it came to the Steelers’ running game.
11“As to Arians- I don’t get the bashing. The offense last year meshed very nicely with the overall team concept and came up with the big plays to win the Super Bowl. I’ll take that over fantasy stats every year.”
Hey Slab, think of it this way: it took one of the greatest defenses of all time to overcome the lack of offensive production. Sure, it’s great to have the #1 defense in the league, but wouldn’t it be fun to have some offense to go along with it? We had the #22 offense last year. It’s not bashing to recognize that Arians has brought poor quality game planning, execution, scheme, and play calling. Those are simply areas where he is coming up short.
The big plays were by the players. It’s no accident that Big Ben has been most effective in the 2-minute drill, because that’s when Arians’ game planning and play calling are least influential. Ben is just amazing when it comes to winging it. It’s great to have Ben, but Arians we can do without!! Fair criticism here, not just calling names!!
12