2011 Pittsburgh Steelers Draft Preview: Draft Big Nasties or Skill Positions?

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been known as a tough, physical football team that plays great defense and has a great running game.

While that stigma still sticks with the team, the reality has not.

Pittsburgh does still have a tough defense, maybe the most physical in the league. The same cannot be said about their offense.

Slowly the Steelers offensive line has deteriorated.

First it was Jeff Hartings who retired and then Marvel Smith and Alan Faneca who were not re-signed by the Steelers.

All of a sudden the dominate players who made up the Steelers offensive line during the 2000s were gone with no quality replacements, that is unless you considered Sean Mahan to be an adequate offensive lineman.

Pittsburgh’s priorities shifted. They shifted to the skill positions, particularly those on the offensive side of the ball.

Mike Tomlin summed up this concept after the 2008 draft in which the Steelers needed offensive line help, but instead spent their top two picks on running back Rashard Mendenhall and wide receiver Limas Sweed.

“There are two schools of thought to protect a quarterback … You can get linemen or you can get him weapons – people that people have to account for. Obviously with this pick, we’ve gotten a weapon. So what he is able to do on a football field will help our quarterback and our football team.”

In theory that makes sense. Both players were great values and if they developed, defenses would have to focus on stopping the offensive weapons as opposed to rushing the passer.

Things didn’t quite work out that way.

Ben Roethlisberger was sacked 46 times and the offense never took off.

But even with the struggles of the offensive line, the Steelers did win the Super Bowl. Granted, Mendenhall and Sweed did not have an impact on the victory.

Jump ahead to this year and Mendenhall has stepped in for Willie Parker, whose career quickly faded away, and Sweed is M.I.A.

Are the Steelers better off? They have made two Super Bowls, right?

Well, their franchise quarterback takes an immense beating every year and the Steelers have struggled to establish a strong ground attack, especially in short yardage situations.

These areas finally showed a slight improvement last season after Pittsburgh spent their first round pick on Maurkice Pouncey.

The rookie Pro Bowler instantly upgraded the offensive line and you have to wonder what another stud offensive lineman could do for the Steelers offense.

The same could be said about the defense.

Pittsburgh has an excellent defensive line which helps free up the linebackers to make plays all over the field, but more importantly, allow LaMarr Woodley and James Harrison to rush the passer.

The defensive line was aging, though. Injuries began to catch up with Aaron Smith and the Steelers had no viable backup.

After years of deprivation, the Steelers finally took a defensive lineman early in the draft when they made Ziggy Hood their first round selection in 2009.

A slow start to his career had many concerned and that ended up being all for naught.

Hood exploded when he stepped in for the injured Smith, improving each week and added a new dynamic to the Steelers defensive line.

One could argue, though, that these “big nasties” are not what the Steelers need to get back to the Super Bowl and win it this time.

Last season the Steelers lost both starting tackles, had players rotating in and out at right guard and did not have Pouncey available in the Super Bowl.

Even with these concerns, the Steelers offense did enough to win a championship if not for turnovers.

Defensively, the defensive line helped put together one of the best seasons ever in defending the run.

But where was the defensive line when it came to assisting in getting to Aaron Rodgers in the Super Bowl?

It was the Steelers cornerbacks, or the skill positions of the defense, getting toasted.

Besides Ike Taylor, the Steelers lack any pure cover corner and Troy Polamalu is the only true playmaker in the secondary.

Imagine what Pittsburgh’s defense would look like if they added an Aaron Williams or a Ras-I Dowling in the draft.

All of a sudden, a good young cornerback inserted into the Steelers defensive lineup makes Pittsburgh’s defense look that much better.

As Tomlin said, “there are two schools of thought.” This time, however, it is not to protect the quarterback, but how to defend a quarterback.

The Steelers could upgrade their defensive line depth with a future replacement for Casey Hampton or Brett Keisel which should help their pass rush get to opposing quarterbacks.

Conversely, Pittsburgh could get a shutdown cornerback who could take away half the field from a cornerback.

The problem with this line of thought is that team’s can avoid top cornerbacks. All they have to do is throw away from them, just as teams did against Taylor last season. Why do you think Bryant McFadden and William Gay were picked on last season?

A defensive lineman can have an impact on getting to the quarterback or occupying blockers to free up the pass rushers on every play.

This is why most successful teams build from the inside out.

Anyone can have talent at the offensive or defensive skill positions, but team’s can gameplan around them and completely take them out of the game.

A strong offensive or defensive line is a lot harder to gameplan against. You cannot isolate just one player, it would have to be a whole unit.

Games are won in the trenches and the lines are the foundations of the team. Without the foundation, a team cannot stand on its own.

For the Steelers, a first round cornerback would be the “sexy” pick, but they are not a sexy team. Pittsburgh is a nasty team and they need to go for the “big nasty” for a third straight first round selection. It is what champions are made of.