Cook: Steelers line good enough

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Pittsburgh Steelers director of football operations Kevin Colbert and coach Mike Tomlin have earned the benefit of the doubt. When you win a Super Bowl, that's a given. Colbert and Tomlin are selling that their offensive line will be good enough to compete for another championship next season.
I'm buying. Actually, it's not so hard.
That line already has helped win one title, right?
I know what you're thinking:
The Steelers won Super Bowl XLIII despite their offensive line. There's no way they'll get that lucky again.
I beg to disagree.
The line's struggles last season were well documented, the extenuating circumstances that contributed to those struggles not so much. Because All-Pro guard Alan Faneca left as a free agent, center Sean Mahan was traded and guard Kendall Simmons and tackle Marvel Smith were lost early for the year with injuries, the Steelers had to rebuild the line twice. In the end, they were left with a new center (Justin Hartwig), two first-year starters at guard (Chris Kemoeatu and Darnell Stapleton), a second-year starter at right tackle (Willie Colon) and a tackle that hadn't played on the left side on a full-time basis since college (Max Starks).
Not to make excuses.
Just being real.
"If you look at how those five came together as the season went on, I think it's fair to say their play improved," Colbert said. "That's reflected in the numbers."
The Steelers allowed 29 sacks in the first half of the season, 20 in the second half. OK, so maybe the line didn't "come on fantastically," as offensive coordinator Bruce Arians gushed at the Super Bowl. But it did get better, especially after running back Willie Parker bounced back from injuries.
So the line was good enough to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.
"Hopefully, they'll continue to grow and improve," Colbert said.
It's reasonable to expect as much. The added experience -- not just the regular season, but also the run to the Super Bowl -- should help Kemoeatu, Stapleton, Colon and Starks. A second year in the system should be huge for Hartwig. As Colbert noted, "The center is the hub of communication for any offensive line."
The Steelers bet big money that the line will be significantly better. To keep it together, they tagged Starks as their franchise player, which means he's due to make $8,451,000 next season, although both sides hope to do a long-term contract before then. They signed Kemoeatu to a five-year, $20 million deal. And they gave Colon a $2,198,000 tender to all but make sure he'll be back for another season.
The Starks deal makes sense, unlike a year ago when the Steelers made him their transition player and had to pay him $6.9 million even though he opened the season as Colon's backup. That seemed like a ridiculously high-priced insurance policy at the time, but it turned out well when management had to cash it in and start Starks after Smith's back injury. This time around, the Steelers had to pay Starks. He's the starting left tackle on a Super Bowl winner. That's just the cost of doing business.
As for Colon, by offering him the high tender, the Steelers retained the right to match any offer he receives as a restricted free agent. If he does a deal elsewhere and they don't match it, they would receive a No. 1 draft pick as compensation, though that seems unlikely.
Colbert's work with the line isn't finished, with other lesser-known free agents and the draft next month.
"You never want to put your head in the sand and think you don't have to get better at any position," Colbert said. "You always want to look to bring in new faces to build the thing up."
Still, the offensive line last season is the line now and almost certainly will be the line next season.
That's OK.
Really.
"The bottom line is winning," Colbert said. "Those guys helped us win."
Sold me.

(Contact Ron Cook at rcook@post-gazette.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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