Grading the Line: Steelers' Roster Battles Are Starting to Be Settled

Two games into the preseason, the Steelers are a good bit closer to deciding which offensive linemen will be making the 53-man roster, and it's remarkable how much the conventional wisdom has changed from what we thought we knew during the summer.

Kraig Urbik was supposed to battle for a starting job at guard. Instead, he's likely to make the team entirely on the basis of future potential, as he hasn't shown that he's capable yet of contributing to the 2009 Steelers. Guard/tackle Ramon Foster has gone from a little known undrafted free agent to someone whose not only nearly a sure-bet to make the roster, but also someone who could make the 46-man active roster this season. And Doug Legursky has gone from being a practice squad player to a productive fill-in on the first team.


Saturday's second preseason game didn't change a whole lot of those assessments. On second look, the first-team line's blocking wasn't as bad as I initially thought. Max Starks had his second-straight bad game, getting flagged for a holding penalty and also being beaten to the outside on two other plays, but right tackle Willie Colon played close to flawlessly and Trai Essex had a couple of good blocks to go with a quarterback hurry he allowed and a poor block on a one-yard Willie Parker run.

Justin Hartwig looked good in his return as well. He did give up one quarterback hurry, but that came on a play in which Starks was beaten to flush Charlie Batch first.

The most frustrating aspect of Saturday's game was the decision to basically junk the running game for much of the night. Two games into the preseason, we still have no clue if the Steelers can run the ball. In the preseason opener, it was fair to blame it on injuries as No. 1 tailback Willie Parker and No. 3 tailback Mewelde Moore were both out. But against the Redskins, the blame could be set at Bruce Arians' feet. Pittsburgh's tailbacks carried the ball 15 times while Steelers' quarterbacks threw 34 passes. The Steelers will have to decide in two weeks whether Issac Redman is worth a roster spot, but he got only two carries, which doesn't give a whole lot of insight into his ability. It also makes it difficult to make as many insights into the play of the offensive line. The first-team offense was in for four running plays, so it's not possible to make too many judgements on Essex's run blocking.

But we did get a decent look at the players battling for the backup jobs.

Tony Hills took a step toward the practice squad. He was flagged for two penalties, gave up a sack while playing right tackle, was knocked completely off his feet by the smaller Brian Orakpo, was knocked to the ground on another play and had a couple of missed blocks.

Alex Stepanovich doesn't get much playing time as the fourth-team center/third-team guard, but the NFL veteran isn't really making a case to move up. His highlight came when he drove his man back on a third and one that helped Issac Redman pick up a first down, but it was all downhill after that. On the next play he was beaten badly which forced quarterback Mike Reilly to tuck and run. He was then beaten again on another pass play. Considering he was only on the field for 10 snaps, three bad plays is a pretty bad percentage.

Doug Legursky was beaten for a quarterback hurry as well when he struggled to slide over on a line twist, but considering he was asked to block Albert Haynesworth one-on-one and generally managed to survive, it wasn't a bad night overall for him. His worst play actually came as the second-team center when he botched a snap.

Carey Davis has rightfully been slammed for his poor blocking as a fullback, but he did drive DeAngelo Hall three yards into the end zone on Willie Parker's touchdown. On that same play, Limas Sweed filled Hines Ward's normal role by cracking down on a defensive end, handling him well enough to allow Parker to get to the corner.

The Steelers are going to have a difficult decision to make between tight end/fullbacks Sean McHugh and David Johnson. When it comes to blocking as a tight end, Johnson is very impressive. When he hits a man with his hand punch, it jars them. On a three-yard gain by Mike Wallace on a reverse, Johnson found his man and maintained his block for a solid four seconds. If it hadn't been for Tony Hills missing a block on his man, Johnson's block would have sprung Wallace for a long gain. But Johnson is not as good a blocker as McHugh as a fullback. When Johnson tried to lead the way for Justin Vincent on a third and one, he found his assignment and met him in the hole, but he didn't get lower than the linebacker, which meant he was stacked up in the hole and Vincent was stopped for no gain. Making the decision tougher is that the Steelers need the third tight end more as a blocking fullback than as a tight end, but if they decide to keep McHugh, they will be letting go a blocker with much more potential.

A.Q. Shipley is a very solid technician and he did a better job of holding his ground this week, although he also was facing a 4-3 defense where he didn't have a man lined up over his nose all the time. Shipley's strengths and weaknesses right now remind me of Sean Mahan--good against 4-3 defenses where he's asked to use his agility and smarts, but not as good against bigger 3-4 nose tackles.

Urbik had a disappointing night as he struggled to handle backup defensive tacle Kendric Golston. By my count, Urbik was beaten four different times on pass plays--twice for hurries, once for a sack and once on a play where Dennis Dixon got rid of the ball before it mattered. He did have a solid block to spring Rashard Mendenhall for eight yards on a second and seven.