All the black and gold can do is go up from here.
Right?
The team showed at least they are not giving up completely on the 2013 season Wednesday, as the club dealt with old OC Bruce Arians and the Cardinals for left tackle Levi Brown.
Brown will come to the Steelers for a conditional late-round draft pick.
He will likely get a shot to help out an offense line that has been in a word – awful – since the moment the season started with a 16-9 loss to the Tennessee Titans.
Brown, like many recent Steelers picks, has been underwhelming in his NFL career, but was the fifth overall pick in the 2007 draft.
On what Brown’s role will be with the Steelers, coach Mike Tomlin said, “Obviously his ability to take in and learn information is going to be an element of that. Obviously [we’re] excited about acquiring a veteran offensive lineman.”
In other words, if he’s breathing – he will play, and probably will push Mike Adams, who has been terrible in 2013, to the bench.
Adams, a second-round pick in 2012, went from right to left tackle, but has allowed more pressures in the first four games that many tackles allow in a season.
Jared Allen cruised by Adams a number of times Sunday in the Steelers latest setback in London, and overall the Vikings put up five sacks.
Allen had 2.5 of them against Adams.
With Brown aboard, the Steelers hopefully will give Ben more time to throw, as this season he’s been running for his life, and eventually he’s going to get hurt.
Marcus Gilbert will probably stay at right tackle, and that means you will have a combo of Brown at left and Gilbert at right.
At the end of the day, it’s a good move for the Steelers.
Brown has allowed 18 total pressures (four sacks, six hits and eight hurries) in 164 snaps, while Adams has allowed 23 pressures (four sacks, six hurries, 13 hits).
Let’s hope maybe this sparks the line – after all, nothing else so far in 2013 has.
36 Comments
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Regis
October 2, 2013 at 4:48 pm
The real problem with Mike Adams is that he plays with his eyes shut.
Jalen
October 2, 2013 at 7:35 pm
This is garbage. Was talking to fellow blogger today about how the LT position is most important position on football field save the QB. The steelers thought more of Timmons in 07, more of Mendenhall in 08, more of hood in 09, more of Pouncey in 10, more of Hayward in 11, more of decastro in 12 and more of jones in 13 than they thought of protecting bb’s blind side throughout said time period. What a joke. You take any of those aforementioned players out and replace with a franchise LT, steelers are a better football team then (eg., more Super Bowls) and now (eg., certainly not 0-4!). When faneca, smith, hartings, et al left and it was becoming obvious that steelers had an elite QB on their hands, they had plenty of opportunities to get a franchise LT in first round but opted not to! Inexcusable! I believe the steelers simply saw what a physical specimen bb is and freak of nature that they could get by without having to invest in a franchise LT because of all of bb’s attributes. And it worked in a way with two more SB appearances and one win but think of how many more opportunities there’d be with someone preventing the necessity for bb to continually run for his life every other down?! Then they go and throw the fans a bone with Gilbert and Adams in the second round as if to say, there, that oughta do! It’s been since 2005 since bb has had good protection and I feel that that is an abomination considering the high volume of elite LT’s in the league mostly whom protect stiffs. Then I see we get another road grading big poor at pass protection tackle who is better suited for the right side in exchange for a conditional late round picks?! Where Baltimore and their way better GM than ours Ozzie newsome stepped up and offered Jacksonville two late round picks for Eugene Monroe who is a stud! So for one extra late round pick we coulda had a dancing bear in lieu of another cement boot stiff?!?! Way to go pittsburgh. If I were bb I would want out of town now and I wouldn’t blame him one single bit, none of us should!
Blkandgold4Life
October 3, 2013 at 1:29 am
Amen! Couldn’t have said it better..that’s why I said don’t let Colbert draft anymore O-Linemen make some trades..players or draft picks or both..or either become a player in free agency..We need Proven Players..not more rookies..especially if Colbert’s still incharge
Ricky Sledgehammer
October 3, 2013 at 4:01 pm
Jalen got it right.
reger
October 7, 2013 at 11:32 am
I can’t believe it either, 100 million dollar Q,B, and a 40 dollar Line…..I’m suprised Roelisberger’s not dead by now.
reger
October 7, 2013 at 11:38 am
put in a call for Ron Mcdole..
Mario
October 2, 2013 at 8:44 pm
The Steelers take another has-been player that the Cardinals aren’t even playing because he sucks!
Tomlin is a moron and should be fired!!!!!!
Blkandgold4Life
October 3, 2013 at 1:21 am
ADAMS ISN’T THE ONLY OLINE ISSUE..I suggest if they want more O-Linemen to trade draft picks for them during the off seasonor for once MAKE SOME CAP SPACE and sign some Vets..do not let Colbert draft any! He hit with Pouncey But the rest are flops so far..including DeCastro and Gilbert
George H
October 3, 2013 at 1:54 pm
Way too early to call DeCastro a flop. Hes only played in a handful of games so far. The plus side of this losing means we will have a high 1st round pick which definitely needs to be spent on a LT. Matthews out of A&M or Lowan from Michigan would be a nice fit. I’m not quite ready to toss the season since were technically only 2 games back, but without a win its still kinda tough. This is the type of season where you want to see the young guys take major steps forward
Ricky Sledgehammer
October 3, 2013 at 4:01 pm
Jalen got it right.
DrGeorge
October 3, 2013 at 5:02 pm
Gentlemen, we’ve been saying it here for three years, and Tomlin just got the message? Talk about denial.
Of course, Levi Brown is not the answer, and Tomlin knows it. Brown is a band-aid; someone who will (hopefully) prevent utter embarrassment and humiliation the rest of the way. But whether Brown is better than Adams or Beachum remains to be seen. Ben R. doesn’t sound convinced; Cardinal fans had nothing good to say for Brown; and Arians thought he was only worth a late pick. Some endorsement!
This is the price Tomlin is forced to pay for failing to fix the O-line for three years. In part that failure was due to poor drafting, as others have commented, but it was also due to a failure to evaluate talent realistically once it was in hand. Tomlin should have seen two years ago that Adams, Foster, and Gilbert were not equal to the task — and acted accordingly. They are huge men, who block too high and have horrible footwork. All three tend to get walked back to the QB by shorter DEs with leverage. Nothing has changed in that regard since these three first came on board.
While Brown is not the answer, we must accept that even a blue chipper at LT would not fix all of our O-line deficiencies. We need a little coaching creativity, too. This team is not without raw talent. And I can’t help thinking that if Bill Belichick or Pete Carroll or Jim Harbaugh had this team, the O-line would be playing better than it is — although the same faces might be in different positions and the blocking schemes might be altered to suit the talent. Belichick and Carroll are especially good at finding ways to use average talent effectively. So far, Tomlin is not.
Mario
October 4, 2013 at 7:55 am
There is ONE major problem with this team, that is Tomlin! He is not qualified to be a head coach! He has proved it with the seams decline since he was hired. FIRE the CLOWN and get the team back to winning!
Blkandgold4Life
October 3, 2013 at 10:14 pm
Now what about the Defence?
George H
October 4, 2013 at 3:21 pm
The big issue with the defense is the lack of pressure on the qb. All of these “exotic” blitzes are useless if the opposing oline can pick up on all the bliters. The Steelers need to invest in a huge 3-4 NT that can demand the double team like Hampton used to be able to do. Its no coincidence that 2years ago hen Hampton stopped demanding the double team, the defensive pressure went down too. Without pressure we wont get any turnovers. The sack totals have been way down the past 2 years and its a direct correlation with lack of turnovers.
The other explanation I can think of is that all of our DBs look to go for a big hit instead of playing the ball while its in the air. Clark is notorious for not even looking at the ball and rather make a big highlight hit. I dont know if its a defensive philosophy that LeBeau preaches or not, but that needs to change because we need some ballhawks in our secondary
Jalen
October 3, 2013 at 10:20 pm
It may be subtle from dr George but to me it’s yet another roaring endorsement for Tomlin’s head! Here’s to the Rooney rule! Stay black!
Mario
October 4, 2013 at 7:58 am
The Rooney’s had to hire the first minority they interviewed, whether or not he was qualified. Tomlin has proved that fact. Fire the clown and hire the best head coach you can find!
George H
October 4, 2013 at 3:11 pm
Enough with the blatant racism. Tomlin was hired because he was the best choice for the team. Russ Grimm? No. Ken Wizenhunt? Well he had his chance and couldnt succeed. I’m not fully convinced Tomlin is the answer either for his lack of game planning, discipline, drafting, and developing the young talent, but to say he was hired just because he is black is asinine. There have been plenty of successful black head coaches in the league before Tomlin and I’m sure there will be after Tomlin too. If Tony Dungy walked up to Dan Rooney and say he wanted to coach the Steelers who i you would oppose?
George H
October 4, 2013 at 3:11 pm
** of you
Jalen
October 4, 2013 at 5:40 pm
I never said be was hired because he was black… Although the hind sighted reflection of circumstances does seem fishy…I just like making fun of rules which favor black people or any ethnicity for that matter because in a meritocracy, there should be no need to have asinine rules favoring someone’s chances no matter what their skin color! Past oppression my ass! Ain’t got nothing to do with football! Tomlin is proving however, and George you just said it “lack of game planning, drafting, discipline and developing young talent”…..WHAT ELSE IS THERE?!?!?! That he has done very little on merit to this point!
George H
October 4, 2013 at 7:21 pm
Yea I know… Honestly I think we need more of a disciplinarian to lead us into future successes. I feel like the players don’t get held accountable for their mistakes or poor play during the games. There is a level of accountability displayed this week though with the demotion of Adams. It was refreshing to see the switch. I’d like to see Adams moved to guard, I think he has a chance to flourish on the inside
Jalen
October 5, 2013 at 8:16 pm
actually and not to be contrarian, George but I see Adams, if anything, as a RT…I think he’s too long to be inside and could get leveraged a lot…My humble opinion of the offensive line for next year is to FINALLY draft a legitimate dancing bear LT, move decastro to LG, Gilbert to RG (think he’s more of a phone booth mauler guy and can get lower in leverage than adams), pouncey at C and Adams to RT….a 3-4 NT in round 2 and a red zone weapon (athletic TE or big athletic WR) in round 3.
George H
October 6, 2013 at 10:57 pm
Yeah I like the oline idea of yours Jalen and I definitely agree with the draft predictions. Pending on where we draft I would also like a big playmaking wr like Sammy Watkins or Marquis Lee
Mario
October 6, 2013 at 9:24 am
You can’t tell me the Rooneys were not going to hire the first minority coach they interviewed. Whether black, hispanic, oriental, or eskimo! Dungy was no genius. Peyton makes any coach look good, because he runs the offense the way he wants to. Without Peyton he would probably be just and average coach , at best.
George H
October 6, 2013 at 9:43 am
I might be mistaken, but wasn’t Dungy a pretty great coach with Tampa Bay too. I’m not saying I want Dungy to take over, he was just an example
Mario
October 6, 2013 at 10:15 am
Dungy was fired by the Bucs, and Gruden took over in 2002, and eventually led them to a SB win.
Parker
October 4, 2013 at 6:30 pm
My God, sorry to interrupt. I have been a Steelers fan for 39 years. Started blogging about a year ago. The only Steeler blog I knew of was Behind the Steel Curtain. Sorry to offend anyone but that blog and it’s followers are RETARDS. After all that frustration I just found this site, read the first story and comments. EVERYBODY here understands all of the aspects of an NFL franchise. Reality instead of fantasy. Fact over opinion. I think I am going to cry. Finally finding Steeler fans who understand the reality of WTF is going on with this team. Please continue excellent reading. I look forward to being part of a real blog.
George H
October 4, 2013 at 7:16 pm
Welcome aboard Parker!
Bob
October 5, 2013 at 9:13 am
Great news! The Steelers are predicted not to loose this weekend!!!!!!
jalen
October 5, 2013 at 10:41 pm
I don’t know, I heard the bye’s getting 3 points…Hope steelers can at least cover!
Parker
October 6, 2013 at 1:16 am
There are actually two great points here by Jalen and George H. Our two biggest issues to address in the next draft are LT and NT. Although there are other personal issues these two will be addressed at #1. I personally think LT is automatic. Every franchise should have that anchor every year. George H made a perfect assessment of our defensive problems revolving around NT. As our D-line play has declined so has our LB’s and the overall D. When you look at the players available this year It looks like that #1 would be best spent on a NT. The gap in talent at NT is great. Louis Nix is Casey Hampton 2.0 perfect 0 technique NT who requires a double team every down and still reeks havoc plus it’s two for one moving Mclendon to RDE. The talent at LT is closer together with more players. drafting a LT at 2 is not automatically a bad thing they just need to do a better job of scouting. As bad as I want that anchor at LT; by the talent available and the impact of the player I think we should target nix #1 and LT early 2
Mario
October 6, 2013 at 9:52 am
You can have the number one pick overall, but the coaching staff seems to struggle at picking the right player. Look at the past years drafts. How many first or second round players are still on the team?
Mario
October 6, 2013 at 9:53 am
and still productive!
George H
October 6, 2013 at 9:54 am
Nix does look like he could be a beast, but I think you are overstating the difference between talent levels of the NT. I think we can find a a solid NT in round 2 as well. Of course its still too early to tell how the draft will shape up anyway. I think LT should be the first position drafted this year depending how the order looks
Bob
October 6, 2013 at 12:06 pm
What happened to Taomatu?
George H
October 6, 2013 at 10:54 pm
I think you’re talking about Ta’amu. He had loads of potential, but couldn’t get his head together and got cut.
Jalen
October 7, 2013 at 5:30 pm
Good thread, boys! Keep ’em comin’!