Steeler Nation desperately wants to see this guy back on the field. Looks like he’s on schedule for now. Credit: Jason Bridge-US PRESSWIRE

Mike Florio from ProFootballTalk can rub me the wrong way with some of his news and analysis within the NFL.  But today, he’s made me rather happy, and put a little shot in the arm of Captain Hope.

Among the offensive craziness that took place in Morgantown, WV yesterday was a witnessed event that will cause the hearts of Steeler Nation to go a flutter.  David DeCastro was seen walking around without a limp.  Five weeks after a severe knee injury, DeCastro was in street clothes and walking around like person with two normally functioning legs.

Now before you go out and bet the farm that the Steelers will get to the Super Bowl from this news, realize that the Steelers can’t bring him back for another four weeks.  The ‘designated to return’ IR title keeps him off the field for another four weeks (for a total of eight).  The Steelers will also be very cautious in bringing DeCastro back.  This guy is the future for the Steelers and won’t make a mistake in bringing him back too early just to get him back on the field.  The temptation is there with the offensive line performing as poorly as they are.  The run game is practically non-existant and that’s largely in part to DeCastro’s absence.

At least it is good to know that DeCastro’s recovery is coming along nicely, and he does not appear to have any significant evidence of a setback for his return.

Preseason almost over. Hallelujah! Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-US PRESSWIRE

What We Learned This Week in the NFL Preseason:

• Seattle releases T.O. and names rookie starting QB
• Jets still can’t find the endzone
• Replacement refs still stinking up the joint
• Steelers win and lose in Buffalo
• NFL rosters cut down to 75 by this afternoon (more…)

Paging Dr. Roethlisberger. Paging Dr. Roethlisberger, please. Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-US PRESSWIRE

The Steelers had high hopes for their newly drafted and tooled offensive line for the 2012 season.  That has all but disappeared in a puff of smoke – or in this case rubber pellets.  Rookie guard David DeCastro went down with a dislocated knee that turned into a MCL tear and slight tear in his patella (most reports say that the ACL is intact).  This puts a major kink in the Steelers plan of having a more forceful run game and better protected passing game.  Up to the point of his injury, DeCastro was little mentioned in games – and that was a good thing because he wasn’t making much in the way of mistakes.

At halftime quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had this to say about DeCastro’s injury:

‘We don’t obviously know — well, I don’t know what the official word is. This is a great field, but it’s FieldTurf, and it’s just killing guys because they can’t get their feet out of the ground, and it’s just another reason we should get rid of FieldTurf.’

FieldTurf is the supposed generational improvement to the awful 60′s invention of AstroTurf.  AstroTurf is simply horrid – as it is seen as the main cause for just about any injury out there from the waist down on a football player…. unless of course your name happens to be T.J. Lang.  Anyone who’s been a part of Steeler Nation old enough to remember the days of Three Rivers Stadium know exactly what I’m talking about.  Hell anyone who’s ever stepped onto any number of high school fields know.  That stuff hurts.  So over the course of the last decade, stadiums have begun to change to either FieldTurf or natural grass turf – Heinz is of the latter, of course.

FieldTurf has it’s problems and is far from being a field of dreams.  In 2010, the NFL’s Injury and Safety Panel released a study that said that anterior cruciate ligament injuries were 88 percent more likely to occur on FieldTurf surfaces than on natural grass fields.  That’s a big reason why the Steelers insist upon having natural turf – even if it means it gets a bit muddy and torn up over the course of the season.

Now I’m not going to start touting that FieldTurf should be rolled up and sent to the next tire fire.  But, is Roethlisberger right to criticize FieldTurf?  It’s clear from the replay that Marcus Gilbert contributed to the series of events and injury by falling onto DeCastro.  Is the field to blame at all for one or both of these guys losing their footing.  Coincidentally the study mentioned earlier also found that ankle injuries are more frequent on FieldTurf.  Brett Keisel suffered an ankle sprain in the same game.

“”Cracker-Jack,” just “Cracker-f@#!ng-Jack!”  Another one bites the <expletive deleted> dust?!”

-Myself, during the 2nd Drive of the Steelers Week 3 Preseason win

Those were the only thoughts and phrases which I could muster at the sight of David DeCastro’s injury.  Thankfully, my mind was somewhat occupied and mood under control, because I was about to watch the Padres administer a beat-down to the vastly overrated Diamondbacks.  By the way, I sure most of you readers which are Pirates fans have noticed that San Diego has played some solid baseball as of late.  But because I am not Peter King, I’ll refrain from making anymore references about baseball in a football-dedicated post.

If you readers did not happen to notice, I wrote a post last week which covered the carousel of players the Steelers had already used along their Offensive Line during this preseason.  Well, the tune-skies for the never-ending game of musical chairs for the unit has yet to stop, and 4th year man/expert shuffler Ramon Foster will now be needed to step in at Right Guard.  While it is a darn shame that DeCastro will likely not see any significant action until Easter of 2013, I am at least comfortable with Foster starting in DeCastro’s place.  The former Tennessee Volunteer has started a career 26 N.F.L. games, and has the ability to at least do an adequate job at the position in the mean time.  Plus, after watching Chris Kemoeatu and his undisciplined play over the previous few seasons, it cannot get much worse at either Guard spot right now.

Pressure will be on Ramon Foster to once again step up this season. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-US PRESSWIRE

Backup Line Getting Thinner

My confidence in Foster aside, I am worried about however is how thin the Steelers are currently spread along their Offensive Line in terms of their total personnel.  Behind the projected starting five of Max Starks, Willie Colon, Maurkice Pouncey, Foster, and Marcus Gilbert, the Steelers have Doug Legursky, Trai Essex, and Rookie Mike Adams on the roster as the top backups.

Granted, “Leggo” and Essex have fit in well as super-subs before and should be able to fill in at one of the Guards (or even Center, I like Essex at Guard more) if some other disaster befalls this unit.  But at this point (only Week 3 of the preseason, I know), this team cannot afford anymore devastating injuries along their Offensive Line, and there is little depth at Tackle with Foster now being kicked inside.  But the ultimate “cherry on top” of this “crap-laden sundae” of a situation is that the veterans on the Offensive Line, Starks and Colon, have had their share of injury issues over the last few seasons, and could inevitably go down at some point this year.

While he has improved some, and possesses plenty of tools and athleticism to work with, Mike Adams has looked dreadful in pass-protection numerous times during the preseason.  Heaven forbid if the team actually has to use the Rookie to protect Big Ben’s blind-side against players like Von Miller, Elvis Dumervil, DeMarcus Ware, anybody in the Giants’ “NASCAR Package,” etc..  If a “trial by fire” scenario such as the aforementioned one occurs with Adams, I will just cross my fingers and hope that when “Big #7 Tree” inevitably falls, he does not “fall hard.”

Final Thoughts

On a positive note, it was nice to see the Steelers Offense get themselves somewhat in gear (especially on that 11 play 98 Yard scoring drive and Rainey’s splash play), the Defense force some Turnovers (kudos fellow Wildcat alum Robert Golden), and Daniel Hrapmann and Drew Butler make their cases to stick and stay as the team’s specialists.

At this point though, the DeCastro injury is the “turd” in the Steelers proverbial “preseason punchbowl.”  With a week left to go in the preseason, and two before their showdown in Denver, Steelers have a large amount of work to do, and must continue to play “Roster Tetris” along their Offensive Line.  My hopes for a season with less than 40 Sacks on Big Ben/Steelers Quarterbacks appears to be shot down for the moment.  But as this organization preaches, “The Standard if The Standard,” and Foster now has a golden opportunity to earn a new contract next offseason with a solid showing over the coming months.

Let’s try and get past this negative turn of events “Steeler Nation,” and hope there is a way that the team’s Offensive Linemen can avoid being struck down with anymore injuries.

Time to sound off readers:  How much will this injury hurt the Steelers this season?  What were your first thoughts?  Let me know below.

Stats Courtesy of: Pro Football Reference.com

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Wellllllllllllllll Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit. Credit: Kevin Hoffman-US PRESSWIRE

It was a strange night for the Steelers.  In what turned into a rout of the ‘up and coming’ Buffalo Bills, the Steelers lost two key players, eerily looked anemic early on, exploded into an offensive flurry, and showed signs of a potential powder keg ready to explode between Ben Roethlisberger and his offensive coordinator.

The Steelers lost 1st round draft pick, David DeCastro during a 2nd quarter touchdown drive, and they lost Brett Keisel with an ankle injury.  Keisel did not return nor was seen on the sidelines later on.  DeCastro tried to walk off on his own power after trainers tended to him for some time, but eventually was carted off.  If there was ever a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, it was when he was sitting on that cart.  Let’s hope it’s not a season ending injury, but it does not look good according to Tomlin in a post game conference.

The offense looked pretty terrible in six possessions in the first half.  It was only after an illegal substitution penalty  in the late 1st half TD drive did the offense pick up – all thanks to Big Ben.  One finger point towards the sideline and things changed.  According to Ben, he decided to go no huddle and started to call his own plays.  The offense started to find momentum and ended the drive with a 6-yard TD catch by Antonio Brown.  The Steelers continued to click and ended up routing the home team with 38 points.

I’m sure the media is just salivating over not only DeCastro’s injury and shoving the fear down our throats but also that finger point and what was going on in Ben’s head the rest of the game.  True sign of leadership or is this the beginning of a rocky relationship between Big Ben and Todd Haley?

Well Nation – time to weigh in as MMQB’s.  What do you think?