PSR Showdown
What do the Steelers need to address in the draft?
By Bill Toth
Weekend Sports Anchor at WPMT in Harrisburg/York/Lancaster

All About The Hogs

There's nothing like springtime. The flowers are blooming, the grass is growing and it's time for the NFL Draft. My favorite sports weekend outside of "real" football season.

The defending AFC North champion Steelers have many holes to fill. They include, but aren't limited to: finding a solid third receiver (sorry Nate Washington fans), getting younger on the defensive line and finding a corner to replace the aging Deshea Townsend. But there is no greater need for the Black and Gold than offensive line. If you disagree with that, you must have missed all of last season because Ben Roethlisberger was on his back more than Rip Van Winkle. Forty-seven times to be exact. Compare that with two of the top teams in the AFC: the Colts gave up 23 and the Patriots 21. That's only 44 between TWO teams. By the way, I'm not even counting the SIX the Steelers gave up in the playoff loss to Jacksonville. Then they lose their best offensive lineman when Alan Faneca moves on to the Jets. Not exactly the best way to protect your new 100 million dollar man - Big Ben.

I know what you are saying. Pittsburgh shored up their offensive line when they signed Justin Hartwig from Carolina to replace Sean Mahan at center. Yes, that was a good move but mainly for the fact that Mahan acted more like an orange cone at center than an offensive lineman. Plus, let's not forget that Hartwig was cut by the Panthers. Not an encouraging sign.

"But Bill, we re-signed Trai Essex and Chris Kemoeatu and named Max Starks as our transition player," you say.

OK. Have you ever heard of Chukky Okobi? He was supposed to replace Jeff Hartings at center and he didn't even make the team. Starks couldn't even crack the starting lineup on a team that gave up 47 sacks. Enough said.

So if you feel that a patchwork offensive line is the way to go, more power to you. But for me, I hope the Steelers stop drafting tight ends and punters, and address their biggest need: offensive line.