Big Lead Sports Bar

2/04/2011

Roethlisberger "Scalding Hot" at Practice, Updates on Pouncey, Smith



Want to quickly disarm a story/non-story about a night on the town singing Billy Joel songs? Have a practice that wordsmith/coffee aficionado Peter King describes as "scalding hot" on Thursday, which is exactly what Ben Roethlisberger did in throwing four straight red-zone touchdowns.

One person who wasn't concerned about the night out and subsequent TMZ report was Steeler coach Mike Tomlin. 

"I'm not concerned one iota," Tomlin said. "It's normal for guys to eat dinner, believe it or not. During the course of the season, guys go out on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Believe it or not, guys live lives."

So that should be the final word on that mini-controversy.
Other than that, Friday should be a big day for Maurkice Pouncey, as Tomlin described the situation. "It's getting to be witching hour for Maurkice."

Pouncey was not a part of the team's practice on Thursday, held indoors at TCU, as he was receiving treatment on his sprained left ankle. If he can't practice on Friday, that would make his playing on Sunday seem like a greater longshot than it already is. In that event, Doug Legursky would make his first career NFL start at center. In the Super Bowl. But as Craig Wolfley pointed out earlier in the week, that wouldn't be a totally bad thing, either:
If Maurkice Pouncey wasn’t Maurkice Pouncey (A Pro Bowl and All-Pro center in his first year), then Doug Legursky would be the starting center of the Pittsburgh Steelers and most likely Maurkice would be lining up next to Doug at guard (the original plan if you remember). Doug could start for other teams in this league. He is the equivalent of Chris Hoke playing behind Casey Hampton.
Also of note on the injury front, Aaron Smith didn't participate in scrimmages on Thursday after limited work on Wednesday. Smith was reported to be out for the game on Monday by the PG, but it sounds like his status is still up in the air. However, it's looking more and more like a longshot to see Aaron in action on Sunday, and he is joined in the question-mark category by Pouncey. The only thing I can definitively say is that Friday will be an important day in the lives of the Steeler training staff.
 
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7 comments:

Unknown said...

Doug Legursky, was never poised to be the starting center for the Steelers. Justin Hartwig was going to start at center and pouncey at guard. Never Legurgsky

Steve said...

Regardless; Legursky was a center in HS and a center in college, so it's not like he's being thrown to the wolves the day before the game asked to do something he's not ready to do. He's had some time now since the Jets game to prepare and hopefully his snaps will be good.

If Pouncey can play but isn't 100% (I think he'd be lucky to be 70%), I'd rather see him dress as a backup instead of starting and only use him if Legursky is struggling, or injured.

Same as Aaron Smith. I think after putting in the work he has up to this point just to have a chance to get back at all, he at least deserves to dress even if he can't start. If they can use him out there at all and he's not handicapping the team, they should let him get in on a few plays. At his age, with his seemingly chronic medical situation and with a lockout and uncertain new CBA looming, there's also a chance he could seeing his last game and since it's the Super Bowl, he deserves to be out there.

Koz said...

I wonder how much ink has been wasted on analysis of whether Pouncey plays or not over the last two weeks. I would be absolutely shocked if he plays.

Borsk said...

As soon as news of the broken bone was made public, the chances of him playing became a fantasy.

Koz said...

As soon as he was sitting on the cart in the Jets game on the sideline, the chances of him playing became a fantasy.

Borsk said...

OH ZINGER!

Louis Lipps Sinks Ships said...

Why don't we just get Pouncey's twin brother to suit up?