Mahan Experiment Over

Wow. That was fast. One year. In my opinion, it was about 10 starts too long as well at seventeen. Listen, when you have Ray Mansfield, Mike Webster, Dermonti Dawson and Jeff Hartings starting exclusively at center since the late 60's, if you play center for this team, you've got Paul Bunyan type shoes to fill, you feel me? The offensive line is the heart and soul of the Stillers and it always has been. Is Sean Mahan a scapegoat? Possibly. Maybe Grimmy bolting to be with his lover The Whiz is the real reason for the poor line play. Maybe the new coach doesn't know dick about OL play. Maybe Colon, Kemo Eat You, Starks and Essex were all just bad picks and now we;re stuck for a few years with them....or, maybe.....just maybe.....the center is the most integral offensive position on our team and Mahan just wasn't up to the task. How many times did Ben take the snap and take off running? Too many to remember. That pressure wasn't normally coming from the sides - it was too fast. It was coming right up the gut. Either Mahan was blocking the wrong guy or not blocking at all. I'm not a coach, I don't know what his assignments are, but I know that Ben leaving pocket before he can say "Oh Shit!" is not how it is supposed to go. I thought Mahan had enough experience to challenge for a guard spot or at minimum add depth to the line as a backup, but I guess not. I'm guessing he just didn't take his demotion well so we cut our losses. I'll tell you one thing, there have been more suspect personnel moves in Tomlin's first year and a half than Cowher's last five years combined.