The Steelers got a pleasant surprise today as they opened their OTAs with center Maurkice Pouncey fully cleared to return to the field.
Pouncey looked fit and trim lining up with the first-team line and proclaimed himself fit and ready for anything.
"It was a big step," said Pouncey, who missed all but eight plays of the 2013 season with a torn ACL. "For the coaches to see it, for my teammates to see it, for me, myself, to see it, it was pretty cool."
@ In a somewhat surprising move, rookie Ryan Shazier lined up with the first-team defense at inside linebacker from the start.
It was an out-of-character-move for the Steelers, who never hand a starting job to a rookie.
Then again, maybe it wasn't all that surprising since the Steelers stepped out of character on draft day and said Shazier had a very good chance to start.
Why waste time putting somebody else at the spot if you know Shazier is going to be the guy?
But there have been other rookies over the years who were obviously better than the previous starters, and they had to wait at least a few practices or until training camp to grab the spot.
@ Troy Polamalu and Ike Taylor were two notable players missing from today's practices.
@ Daniel McCullers does not look like a 352-pound man. He's tall and lanky.
@ New defensive lineman Cam Thomas, on the other hand, looks every bit of the 330 pounds he's listed at.
@ Javis Jones said he has been working hard in the weight room to get stronger. Jones has been working out in Georgia with some other NFL players.
Jones answered nearly every question today raving about new assistant linebackers coach Joey Porter.
Example: Have you gotten stronger this offseason.
Answer: You know, Joey Porter goes in and lifts like he's still a player. . . etc.
11 comments:
Thanks for the info, cool stuff.
Let's just hope no one gets injured!
Shazier is going to be special, no need to waste any time since everyone knows he will beat out Williams. Timmons had a lot of great things to say about his speed and closing ability. I expect Tuitt to get there as well, but it will take him a bit longer.
I did not see any photos of Jones, but hoping an offseason in the weight room has helped. Mike Adams looks like he has been hitting the weights, most of the team looks to be in great shape, here's hoping they are hungry.
How does Ben look? Is he in shape?
Ben looks like Ben
that would be tall, not ripped, with some flab on his arms...lol.
separately, have you had a chance to observe munchak with the o-linemen? any differences in approach than past o-line coaches worth sharing? thanks.
The o-line was working on the farthest field away from where we can stand. It's what they do when they are in their facility. It's why nobody noticed anything different with their line workouts last year.
I won't get too much into that until training camp when I can move around a little more.
As for Ben being ripped, he's just as ripped as Tom Brady or Peyton Manning.
Dale, I may be in the minority but I would love for the steelers to be on Hard Knocks. The draft countdown videos they post every week are awesome. Any chance you feel the Steelers join the Hard knocks party?
Dale,
Now that Ryan Clark is gone does the media have a new "go to" player for opinions and quotes? I'm curious about who might be the new vocal leader of the team both in the media and in the locker room. It may have to wait for training camp but I'm curious if there's an obvious candidate.
The feeling with the team towards Hard Knocks hasn't changed. They feel it's a distraction.
As for go-to spokesman guys, my money is on Ramon Foster. He has replaced Clark as the player rep and also usually has a pretty good finger on the pulse.
THought it was interesting last month right after it was floated that the Steelers and Bears were frontrunners for Hard Knocks, both were mentioned as potential hosts for the next draft. Wondered if there might be a quid pro quo thing brewing.
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