On the Steelers: Offensive line has improved, just ask RG Essex
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Ryan Clark -- Will not play in Denver Saturday for health reasons
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The Steelers' offensive line is better than last year. Flozell Adams will start at right tackle. And the new commitment to the ground game is real.
At least those are the observations of one man, starting right guard Trai Essex. Before anyone might be tempted to dismiss them as nonobjective, he came armed not only with opinions but some early statistics, too.
One, the numbers are there for the running game both in production and in commitment. Two, the only sack the New York Giants' sometimes fierce defense got Saturday night came on a screen pass. As Essex said, "the O-line didn't give up any sacks in pass pro."
But first, the budding controversy that is the play of Adams, the 35-year-old former five-time Pro Bowl left tackle with the Dallas Cowboys. Adams has whiffed several times in two preseason games that led to at least one sack and one interception. There has been talk about moving Essex to right tackle, about Adams not even making the final roster.
That talk has not gone on inside the Steelers, Essex insists. He called Adams starting the season at right tackle a "pretty much done deal. ... There's nothing that tells me otherwise."
"He's been in another system for 12 years and he's had different offensive coordinators. This is a whole new thing for him. Even from the first to the second game he's made excellent strides. It is different playing from the left to the right, there's a whole balance and body weight thing. He's adjusted well."
Essex also noted that he has not lined up at right tackle one time, and that it appears he has won the starting right guard position.
"I had a goal set in mind coming into camp that I wasn't going to lose this job. It's good to know the coaches had that much faith in me that I could play this position."
He played it last season after Darnell Stapleton was lost in the preseason to a knee injury. Now he has taken on the dual jobs of helping Adams adjust to right tackle and aiding rookie Maurkice Pouncey with his calls at center.
• Preseason Game 3: Steelers vs. Denver Broncos.
• When: 8 p.m. Sunday.
• Where: Invesco Field at Mile High.
• TV: WPGH.
"That's just extra film work for me," Essex said. "I don't mind. Whatever helps this O-line succeed. We've caught a lot of flack the last few years for not being on the same page, for not being as good as we should be, for whatever reason. So, if my job is to help the guys on the left, help the guys on the right, I'm going to do it."
First Published August 24, 2010 12:00 am
