Steelers right tackle Willie Colon injured his achilles tendon working out Monday. He's reportedly scheduled to have surgery today and will miss the entire 2010 season.
A lot of fans are panicking about how this injury will hurt the offensive line.
Panic about Roethlisberger missing the first month. Cringe about Holmes getting traded. Worry about the running back depth with Parker gone. Maybe even hire a Priest to remove whatever spell seems to have been placed on the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason, but don't worry about Colon being out.
He's not the second coming of Art Shell. I've never been a huge fan of his work. I was surprised to hear that other people don't share that opinion. Matt Williamson, an expert scout that is always on ESPN radio, said that Colon is one of the top dozen right tackles in the league. If that's the case, I'd hate to see the bottom two dozen.
But who am I to question people like Matt Williamson? If he says Colon is an above average tackle, then he must be.
Not just Williamson, but the Steelers coaches have always liked Colon. They've always been high on him, even back during the Cowher regime.
One of these days, I'd just like to see some proof of his great skills.
All I hear about is how nasty he is, but I never see him dominate the person lined up against him. Instead, I usually see him baffled when two defensive linemen run stunts on him. Blocking air must be his assignment on those types of plays because that's what he seems to do more often than not. And lets not forget about the many crucial holding and false-start penalties he likes to commit on a fairly regular basis.
I think this could open the door for this year's first round pick, Maurice Pouncey. Trai Essex is expected to move into Colon's position and Pouncey could be in line for the right guard spot. I think that would be an overall upgrade.
Of course, this all depends on how well Pouncey and Essex perform in training camp, but I'm betting that Pouncey is the real deal and Essex has filled in at tackle before and the team didn't appear to suffer at all.
Pittsburgh is also reportedly talking to free agent lineman Flozell Adams, the 5-time Pro-bowl tackle who was recently released by the Cowboys. From what I understand, he was released mainly for salary reasons although he is 35 years old.
We'll see how this latest bit of bad news turns out for the Steelers but I'm thinking it could be a blessing in disguise.
I do remember Colon causing a lot of penalties now that you mention it. I never hear much good about him. Polamalu, hell yeah. Harrison, no question ever since the Harrison Hundred. Farrior, yeah, a bit. But Colon? Hardly ever. I did panic a little bit, I won't lie, just because we don't need any more bad coming to our offensive line. They were ATROCIOUS enough WITH him last season, but with another guy out, it would just be as unbearable to watch as the Pirates giving up 12 runs the other day. Yuck!!! The way I see it, any guy is better than no guy. As far as the Cowboys lineman, keep him as far from us as possible. Anything with a Dallas stamp in its history has GOT to be bad news coming. (SHUDDERS) Can't even think about it.
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