Steelers fire OL coach

PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has fired offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. after just one season.

The move comes as a bit of a surprising considering the progress the offensive line made this season despite constant shuffling because of injuries.

The offensive line allowed just seven sacks in the Steelers’ final seven games. It also helped rookie running back Le'Veon Bell rush for 214 yards in the final two games of the season.

The Steelers lost two starting centers during the course of the season, including Pro Bowler Maurkice Pouncey (torn ACL) in the opener. They had to deal with in-game injuries, it seemed, on a weekly basis, and the loss of Pouncey scuttled the Steelers’ plans to employ a zone-blocking scheme in 2013.

“I have decided to go in a different direction with respect to the coaching of our offensive line,” Tomlin said in a Steelers release. “I want to thank Jack for his contributions during the 2013 season, and I wish him well in the future.”

Read more: http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/111412/steelers-fire-ol-coach

With the patchwork line we have had and all of the rotating and injuries, I don't think this was an awesome move...

The O-line wasn't great, but toward the end of the season, it looked a lot better than it has in quite some time. This move doesn't make any sense to me. It reminds of when they fired Al Everest.

Interesting Tweets from Kaboly:

Quote :

Steelers fire Jack Bicknell. Wow, that's a shock

Quote :

Hard to figure out why Steelers fired OL coach. A lot of times who replacement is answers that question. Guess we will have to wait 3 weeks

Quote :

This I know: Bicknell held OL together and got better despite 6 starting combos, 12 in-game combos; run game got better; linemen loved him

Quote :

After talking to people, it was not a surprise that Jack Bicknell Jr. was let go. Was also told his role was never diminished during season.

------------------------------------------------------------

NFL.com reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala ‏tweeted:

Quote :

And the Steelers have made official what we foresaw some weeks ago: OL coach Jack Bicknell, Jr. has been let go.

Which prompted this response from the Trib's Dejan Kovacevic:

Quote :

Not a soul in existence ever reported a syllable of Bicknell being in trouble. If so, show link, clip, anything.

The local reporters were taken completely by surprise by the firing, so it's unlikely that anyone outside of the team saw it coming. Based on recent history, we'll never know for sure why he was fired.

Maybe he wasn't buying in to the system, and with the season already in shambles they decided to wait until the end of the season.

It's hard to say at this point, but doesn't matter who the o-line coach is, it won't matter if we don't keep them healthy.

Ben was on pace for a career high in sacks for the better part of the season. It wasn't until very late in the season that the offensive line finally started doing decent. If the line had done that 12 games earlier we may be in the playoffs.

I have a feeling Shaun Sarrett was doing all of the leg work anyway, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's promoted.

bayz101 wrote:

I have a feeling Shaun Sarrett was doing all of the leg work anyway, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's promoted.

Some people, including Gerry Dulac, were saying that earlier ( http://sulia.com/channel/pittsburgh-steelers/f/c106abb1-b415-48c5-aa93-24cf969cd06f/?source=twitter&repost=120 ). Sarrett's stock has certainly risen in the past day. Yesterday, no one had even heard of him. So, was Sarrett running the show in the second half of the season? It's possible, and I certainly have no clue, but Kovacevic and Dale Lolley are insisting that wasn't the case:

Quote :

Dejan Kovacevic  @Dejan_Kovacevic

According to one #Steelers O-lineman, it’s “absolutely not” true that Jack Bicknell Jr. had any duties replaced or diminished at any point.

Quote :

Dale Lolley @dlolleyor

Don't know where this Bicknell "stripped of duties" stuff is coming from. Simply not true. Once again, #NFLNetwork making stuff up

As I always say, trust the local guys over the national guys, but Dulac has echoed the NFL Network reports, so I'm really not sure what to believe. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens. If Sarrett gets promoted, that means it likely was true. If someone else gets the job, then Kovacevic and Lolley probably are right.

Although the line seemed to show some improvement near the end of the season, Gilbert and Adams didn't seem to develop. In fact, they seemed to play more poorly than last year. One priority of a position coach is to develop the younger talent. As much as Adams was in the spotlight at the beginning of the season, Gilbert was beaten time and again this year.

Wallace108 wrote:

bayz101 wrote:

I have a feeling Shaun Sarrett was doing all of the leg work anyway, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's promoted.

Some people, including Gerry Dulac, were saying that earlier ( http://sulia.com/channel/pittsburgh-steelers/f/c106abb1-b415-48c5-aa93-24cf969cd06f/?source=twitter&repost=120 ). Sarrett's stock has certainly risen in the past day. Yesterday, no one had even heard of him. So, was Sarrett running the show in the second half of the season? It's possible, and I certainly have no clue, but Kovacevic and Dale Lolley are insisting that wasn't the case:

Quote :

Dejan Kovacevic  @Dejan_Kovacevic

According to one #Steelers O-lineman, it’s “absolutely not” true that Jack Bicknell Jr. had any duties replaced or diminished at any point.

Quote :

Dale Lolley @dlolleyor

Don't know where this Bicknell "stripped of duties" stuff is coming from. Simply not true. Once again, #NFLNetwork making stuff up

As I always say, trust the local guys over the national guys, but Dulac has echoed the NFL Network reports, so I'm really not sure what to believe. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens. If Sarrett gets promoted, that means it likely was true. If someone else gets the job, then Kovacevic and Lolley probably are right.

Kovacevic & Lolley are usually pretty trustworthy, so i'm really not sure what to believe. I know Sarrett has been working pretty heavily with the lineman, particularly after Pouncey's injury, so I wasn't sure if maybe Mike noticed maybe someone else was pulling the weight.

Hard to coach a made up line all year.

Steeltown beatdown wrote:

Hard to coach a made up line all year.

Definitely true and I feel for the guy for having to come up with a patchwork line every week and try to succeed. However, my thought is you should develop the younger guys to become more comfortable in their roles to help solidify the line. Adams and Gilbert looked worse this year than last year. Had they played close to their potential, maybe the line would have been better. Not sure if this was the coaches fault, but these guys didn't get better and it's the coaches neck on the line.