Ramon Foster likes potential of the line. Wants to stay in Pgh

[zulater]

http://blog.steelers.com/2012/12/31/foster-likes-potential-on-the-line/


As Ramon Foster stood in front of the cameras in the Steelers media room on Monday, Maurkice Pouncey and Marcus Gilbert stood outside tapping on the closed door, smiling, taking Foster’s picture, and just having a little fun. It didn’t come as a surprise, as the offensive line is one of the tightest knit units on the Steelers’ team, a group that truly considers each other brothers.
That is one of the reasons Foster, a soon-to-be unrestricted free agent, is hoping that he is back in black and gold next year.
“The friendship part, it would be tough if I wasn’t here,” said Foster. “That’s just a part of the business. I hope I am here.”
Foster also knows the potential that exists on the offensive line with young players like Pouncey, David DeCastro and Mike Adams in the mix with a solid group of veterans, and would love the opportunity to be a part of the bright future the line has.
“We can be really good,” said Foster. “We have a lot of top-quality picks and young guys. I think the average age in our room now is 25 years old. Those guys are really good. I think everyone in our room now has played. We have depth. We just have to get everybody healthy this offseason and see how everything transpires.
“We have a lot of talented and special players on the line. You have all dynamics, smart guys and tough guys, every type of dynamic in the room. The talent is bottomless right now. I want to be a part of a line like that. Barring injuries, it could be a really special line.”

I hope they keep Ramon and give him a chance to compete with either Colon or DeCastro for a starting guard spot. Plus he can play tackle. an excellent insurance policy if the price is right.

[Austin87]

I hope they keep this unit together for at least another season. We have 8 solid offensive linemen, been a while since that happened.

[zulater]

One of these years this unit might actually prove to be an assett over 16 games. I thought mid season the o-line was playing as well as well as one has in Pgh any time since 2004. But then the injury bug hit and hit and hit, and everything we were working toward crumbled.

I know Ben's injury diminished his play, but had he come back to the same offensive line we had Oct-Nov I think he could have played well enough to get us into the playoffs and perhaps even make a little noise while there.

After Willie Colon and Mike Adams went down the season just changed drastically.

[Bluecoat96]

Speaking of the line, do you think the style of coaching from Kugler had anything to do with the ridiculous amount of o-line injuries, or were we just that unlucky? I remember when Kugler was at Buffalo, he had something like 6-7 players go on IR. Just an unhealthy coincidence? I'll be interested to see if the line's health is better this next season without Kugler.


What do I know? I'm a music teacher. :)

[zulater]

Eventually, the Steelers have to quit messing around with Max Starks, don‘t they?

Every summer, it‘s the same drama as to whether he‘ll be back. Roethlisberger dons a No. 78 jersey in Latrobe, Starks passes a physical, signs for the minimum, suits up in the nick of time and steadily holds down left tackle — the toughest job in football — game after game.

Starks pointed to his grass-stained socks Sunday and said, “I saved a piece of Heinz Field, just in case I do go.”

No reason for that to happen.

• Stop messing around with Ramon Foster, too.Every summer, he‘s the backup at both guard positions, at least until others drop around him and he starts all year long. Yeah, i know a first-round pick went into David DeCastro and that Willie Colon can move mountains with a pink finger when healthy, but the latter hasn't made it through any of the past three seasons. Durability counts.Foster and Starks have two things in common, one being that they were the only linemen to avoid parentheses after their last names and the other being they're about to try the open market.I know this one isn't likely but felt compelled to ask, anyway. “It‘s possible,” Foster said Sunday with a grin, “because Maurkice Pouncey has generously offered to give up some of his pay to keep me.”That apparently was news to the All-Pro center at the next stall: “I did what?”

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How can you not love this guy? :chuckle:

[NJarhead]

Maybe he'll materialize at some point, but I wasn't all that impressed with him at LG this year.

[Chidi29]

Would love to keep him. Ultra-consistent, durable, and has the versatility Tomlin covets.

But if he isn't going to be offered a starting job and by extension, starters money, he'll probably go somewhere else. Nature of the business.

[steelerdude15]

I'd like for him to stay because he's been a good back up for this team. He's been there when we needed him.