Pittsburgh happy about Menndenhall
May 12, 2008 by James Edwards
Filed under Sports
NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.
Rashard Mendenhall taking in the whole Steeler thing
Image details: Pittsburgh Steelers Rookie Training Camp served by picapp.com
Ok, Steeler fans, weren’t you supposed to take an offensive lineman?
Even RB Willie Parker was surprised the Steelers waited until the fourth-round to draft an offensive lineman.
“Everybody said what I need is an offensive lineman,” said Parker. “That wasn’t my call to pick an offensive lineman. It would have been good to get one, but we didn’t.”
Isn’t your offensive line a mess?
Most mock drafts in cyberspace assumed the Steelers were focusing on adding an offensive lineman. But a furious run that saw six tackles come flying off the board in the first 21 selections was over by the time it was Pittsburgh’s turn to pick. “There was a panic attack on offensive linemen,” Arians says. “It just worked out that Rashard flew right into our laps.”
Don’t you have to protect Big Ben Roethlisberger?
And what about a running attack?
That final question got answered on draft day. Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arians had this to say.
“I compare Rashard to Edgerrin James,” Arians says. “Except that Rashard is 10 pounds heavier and a tick faster than Edge was with the Colts.”
Arians served as the Indianapolis Colts’ quarterbacks coach from 1998 to 2002. James joined the team in 1999 as a first-round selection out of Miami.
One of James’ most underappreciated skills with the Colts (and now with the Arizona Cardinals) is his ability to pick up blitzes. One of the most worrisome duties that keep rookie running backs from seeing significant playing time early is pass protection.
That’s where Arians thinks the Steelers’ new Edge-like rusher is the exception to that rookie rule.
“The pass blocking is good with Rashard, and he’s got great hands,” Arians says. “You’re not afraid of letting him cover Ben’s back side in pass protection.”
NFL Football Hines Ward factoid -
• Hines Ward was scheduled to make his second trip of the year to South Korea, where he was welcomed as a hero following his Super Bowl MVP in 2006. Since then, he’s made the trip twice a year to work on his foundation to aid bi-racial people in that country. Ward was born in South Korea, son of a Korean native mother and black U. S. serviceman father.
Now if only that offensive line can hold!
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