Fernando Velasco Drawing Rave Reviews

[stillers4me]

Pittsburgh’s offensive line should have been in a “pit of despair” after they lost Maurkice Pouncey for the season to a knee injury last Sunday afternoon.

Luckily for the Steelers, Fernando Velasco was still available as a free agent and the team inked him to a contract earlier this week. Since he was signed by Pittsburgh, all the former Tennessee Titan has done is draw some rave reviews from his new teammates according to Scott Brown of ESPN.com:..............

Read more @ http://nicepickcowher.com/2013/09/13...-rave-reviews/

[Count Steeler]

Happy Days are here again!

[salamander]

Glad to hear that.

[tube517]

We'll see how he fares against the first wave of terror.

You gotta slow cook it. Don't microwave it.

Sent from my SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 4

[steelreserve]

OK, so anyone want to take bets on which quarter he'll get injured in on Monday? I'm thinking definitely before halftime.

Hard to say what, though ... high ankle sprain ... broken wrist ... grade 2 MCL sprain ... all of those look pretty enticing as something that could keep you out long enough that we have to rearrange all our plans again.

[Count Steeler]

Hey, there's a different contest idea, name the injury of the next Steeler to get hurt, and which teammate caused it.

My guess would be 1. Gilbert 2. DeCastro as the causers. Someone on the Oline as the recipient.

[Steeldude]

If Velasco turns out to be a good center for the Steelers then perhaps they can move Pouncey to guard next season. Well, that's if Pouncey is healthy and remains with the team.

[st33lersguy]

Hopefully he doesn't get injured. Hopefully Pittsburgh will stop the cut-blocking. Tomlin would be nuts to still start Beachum

[TheRuneMeister]

He sounds like a (football)smart guy in interviews. I think he's gonna do fine. But yeah, it is just a matter of time before someone else gets hurt and the whole thing starts over again.

[steelreserve]

If Velasco turns out to be a good center for the Steelers then perhaps they can move Pouncey to guard next season. Well, that's if Pouncey is healthy and remains with the team.

That's three big ifs. As people are probably tired of hearing me say, it's going to be hard to afford Pouncey past his rookie contract. But about the only thing we can afford less than a $9 million center is a $9 million offensive guard. I'm looking at it more like - we probably need to find a new center within the next year, so if this guy is even nearly as good as it sounds so far, the solution may have fallen right into our laps. Which makes us really lucky.

All joking aside, just please let's not have another entire season of every lineman being injured 5 or 6 games. I said before that with even average injury luck, the line ought to improve a lot over last year; this was a terrible start, but if Velasco is good and we're fortunate enough for this to be the last major blow, we may get to see that yet. Crossing my fingers here.

[Seven]

Velasco will be fine. He's a solid center who had no business being on the market this late into the year. If we do choose to let Pouncey walk (a big if) I would suspect it will be largely because of Velasco. As long as he doesn't get hurt he should perform very well. If you have access to rewind go back and watch him with Tennessee from the coaches angle. No idea why the Titans released him last month. He's a solid guard too.

[60_MINUTES]

Don't be shocked if he doesn't show up and be best linemen we have. Just like when the Dallas cast away flozall Adams came in. He was pretty much done but our line was so bad that Adams shined and was wonderful. Honestly our line struggles so much I wouldn't be shocked to see him step in and look very solid. I've heard very good things about him.

If football focus is creditable at all then we should actually see up grade at center position. I really wouldn't be shocked. Pouncey spending to much time supporting criminals. Needs to spend more time wearing steeler hats and not free my thug friend hats. What a Shame. U don't care how good pouncey is. Saying that stuff he said after superbowl and wearing that hat makes me absolutey not want to invest 8 mil towards him. That's for sure.

[Psycho Ward 86]

OK, so anyone want to take bets on which quarter he'll get injured in on Monday? I'm thinking definitely before halftime.

Hard to say what, though ... high ankle sprain ... broken wrist ... grade 2 MCL sprain ... all of those look pretty enticing as something that could keep you out long enough that we have to rearrange all our plans again.

and restructure woodley for the 10th time so that he becomes the 1st person in NFL history with a $100 million dollar cap hit

[Mistah Q]

Can yho9uj hearf the drum s FAErbnandoooooooooooooooooo

[Steel 36 Bus]

if this kid works out. it may be Pouncey's fate of being let go in Free Agency.

[stillers4me]

Can yho9uj hearf the drum s FAErbnandoooooooooooooooooo

Unbelievable. I actually can read this.

[Dwinsgames]

Can yho9uj hearf the drum s FAErbnandoooooooooooooooooo

another " classic" night Q...

hope your head is not aching to much lol

we will see this from time to time lol Q is known for this , he likes to serf the net after tying one on

[Master Blaster]

I have my Q decoder at the ready.

[HollywoodSteel]

Can yho9uj hearf the drum s FAErbnandoooooooooooooooooo

I was thinking that he looks marvelous!

[steelerdude15]

I definitely felt he had a good game tonight. He held his own and blocked well.

[fansince'76]

I definitely felt he had a good game tonight. He held his own and blocked well.

Ben didn't get clobbered the entire game like last week. That's about the only positive from tonight.

[steelerdude15]

Ben didn't get clobbered the entire game like last week. That's about the only positive from tonight.

I definitely think that the offensive line in general was better this week than last. They protected him better this week, but there is definitely still room for improvement.

[SteelerFanInStl]

Velasco seemed to play better than the rest of the line. The only thing that I didn't like about him was his shotgun snaps. They were soft and high quite a bit. He's gotta get that ball up to Ben quicker and on target.

[steeldawg]

Velasco seemed to play better than the rest of the line. The only thing that I didn't like about him was his shotgun snaps. They were soft and high quite a bit. He's gotta get that ball up to Ben quicker and on target.

I was thinking the same thing, lol and its sad because the rest have been in our system for over a year, hes been here a week.

[jb500ex]

Velasco was the best lineman by far and played better than pouncey has played

[tube517]

Fernandomania 2013. I still can't believe he fell in our lap

Sent from my SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 4

[TheRuneMeister]

He wasn't perfect (and damn near ended Mike Adams season), but he did look solid. And a center that looks solid in his first game for a team after only one week of practice is rare. He might not have 'sky is the limit' type talent (I don't know though), but he is definitely a 'quality NFL lineman'.

[Master Blaster]

Velasco seemed to play better than the rest of the line. The only thing that I didn't like about him was his shotgun snaps. They were soft and high quite a bit. He's gotta get that ball up to Ben quicker and on target.

He will improve with time. He played better than we could reasonably expect him to play with only one week to learn a new system of calls and new teammates.

[Craic]

All joking aside, just please let's not have another entire season of every lineman being injured 5 or 6 games. I said before that with even average injury luck, the line ought to improve a lot over last year; this was a terrible start, but if Velasco is good and we're fortunate enough for this to be the last major blow, we may get to see that yet. Crossing my fingers here.

There's so much truth in that post I don't know where to start. An O line can't be cohesive if they never get the chance to play next to each other. So staying healthy the rest of this year is the first key to getting better. The second, of course, is replacing Gilbert. but, I'm beating a dead horse there.

[zulater]

The Steelers could throw it into the game plan Sunday against the Bears, ( zone blocking technique)especially since new center Fernando Velasco has been around for a couple of weeks.
Velasco played for the Titans for five years and was the centerpiece of the scheme with running back Chris Johnson before coming to the Steelers.
Velasco was coaching the offensive line about the scheme during part of Wednesday's practice.
“It is just about getting reps,” Velasco said. “I think the guys are getting more comfortable with it. It is just about getting more reps on the board.”


Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/...#ixzz2fKnF8gpd
Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on Facebook