Originally Posted by
El-Gonzo Jackson
Agreed re: different skillsets. Pouncey and DeCastro are more athletic than the other 3 guys on the line, but that doesn't necessarily mean they aren't good inline blockers. Foster isn't as athletic as you want and if you compare to Alan Faneca who previously played at LG, he isn't that athletic at all in order to pull 3 gaps to the right on counters.
The heavier footed guys on O line like Foster are better suited to block between the tackles and its not so much "blasting open holes", but rather they get to a shoulder and seal their opposing defender to create a seam the RB can run thru. Steelers have always sprinkled in some inside zone plays where the linemen briefly double team the down lineman and then one of the lineman, slides off to block the LB. They also ran some outside zone where the whole line takes a lateral step and then tries to get to an edge of a defender and its on the RB to read the seam and run thru it.
IMO, the current Steelers O line uses a variety of run schemes. Some power man, some zone. But where the 2000's teams had 2 guards(Faneca and Simmons) strong enough to run power and athletic enough to pull left or right. The current line uses G-C in Decastro and Pouncey to pull either way if they run pulls or counters. I just don't think many places are going to break down statistically the run success in , Inside Zone, Outside Zone, Man blocking, Counter plays, Pulling lead plays, etc to determine proficiency in each type of play.