Getty Pittsburgh Steelerscenter Maurkice Pouncey.
Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey is widely regarded as one of the best centers in the NFL. As noted on the Steelers’ web site, Pouncey is “the first center in NFL history to be selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons, and he has earned seven overall Pro Bowl selections (2010-12, 2014 and 2016-18).”
But that doesn’t impress Pro Football Focus’ Sam Monson, who has described Maurkice Pouncey as “the most overrated offensive lineman of his generation.”
Pouncey recently took note of Monson’s assessment, firing back on Twitter with: “All this hate & violence going on in the world yet fake analyst can say this instead! Did you play football Mr Guru?”
Maurkice Pouncey: Center for the NFL’s ‘All-Average Team’
Pouncey’s tweet follows on the heels of a PFF NFL podcast in which Monson and co-host Steve Palazzolo discussed which NFL players are quintessentially average, and therefore a good fit for a hypothetical “all-average team.”
Here’s some of what was said about Pouncey during the podcast:
“When you watch Maurkice Pouncey, he doesn’t kill people, he doesn’t crush people in the run game, he makes reasonable blocks, he moves fairly well, and he gets beaten in pass protection in the middle-class of centers when it comes to pass protection and giving up pressures in a given year. Maurkice Pouncey might be the all-average center despite his Hall of Fame path when it comes to perception.”
Palazzolo and Monson go on to discuss how it will be “an injustice” when Pouncey gets elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, saying: “He was average for ten years and we’re going to throw him in the Hall of Fame but we’re going to do it because he had ten Pro Bowls [seven so far] because nobody knew any better.”
Terrell Edmunds: Strong Safety on PFF’s ‘All-Average Team’
Notably, Pouncey wasn’t the only Steelers’ player whose name came up during the ‘All-Average Team’ podcast. Both Monson and Palazzolo liked Terrell Edmunds for strong safety, emphasizing that Edmunds shouldn’t have been a first-round draft pick, but he has exceeded expectations if you had him rated as a fifth- or sixth-round pick.
In addition to Pouncey, two other Steelers’ offensive linemen warranted strong consideration for the ‘All-Average Team,’ namely left tackle Alejandro Villanueva and recent free agent acquisition Stefen Wisniewski, who plays on the interior of the offensive line.
Brandon Jordan on T.J. Watt, Bud Dupree
In more positive Twitter news, a group of Steelers’ defenders have apparently been working out at the direction of “defensive line and offensive line specialist” Brandon Jordan.
On his Twitter account Jordan highlighted T.J. Watt’s “bend game,” calling it “crazy!!!”
Bend game crazy!!! @_TJWatt
Jordan also praised the work of Bud Dupree, who he described as being “on a mission to greatness!!!!”
Athlete: @Bud_Dupree
Position: OLB/Edge
Team: @steelers
On a mission to greatness!!!! There’s no substitution to working!
Both OLB’s recently attracted positive notice from Pro Football Focus, who rated Watt and Dupree among the Top 5 Edge Defender Duo’s in the NFL entering the 2020 season.
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