NFL Network draft maestro Mike Mayock has been beating this drum for the last six months: former Michigan left tackle Jake Long would make a much better right tackle in the NFL, at least to start his career.
"He's got the talent, the toughness and the emotional stability to play left tackle at a high level, if he's transitioned over time ... I know he's a good athlete; I know he's left-handed and is used to playing the left side. With all those things, I think he could be inundated his first two seasons because I've seen tape when he goes up against defensive ends with NFL-type speed, and he struggles a little bit.
Jake doesn't have the rare feet of a Joe Thomas, who started at left tackle from Day 1."
Obviously, the Dolphins disagree, because Long, who signed with the team in the days leading up to the draft, will be the starting left tackle come Sept. 7. Mayock thinks it makes more sense to keep Vernon Carey on the left side, start Long on the right side and gradually transition him into the job. Unfortunately, the Dolphins won just once last year; they don't have the luxury to groom players.
Steelers fourth-year quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been banged up for most of his career. Obviously, face-planting into concrete sans helmet doesn't help, but neither does having five fat guys pretending to block for you.
I don't know if Pittsburgh offensive line wants to see Big Ben carted off on a stretcher or if they're just a really inept bunch, but whatever, it's got to be hard to watch if you're head coach Mike Tomlin. Or anybody in the Roethlisberger family.
The upside -- when Roethlisberger's not scraping himself off the turf -- is that you get see a handful of plays like the one above every week. The Jaguars front four just bum-rush the Steelers offensive line, and Roethlisberger somehow manages to find Willie Parker standing around watching the carnage. Parker turns it into a big gain, and nobody in the stadium was happier than CBS color analyst Dan Dierdorf: "Ben Roethlisberger, YOU ARE A STUD. YOU ARE A BIG, STRONG STUD."
Dierdorf will propose to Ben on bended knee at the halftime of next Week's Rams game. (Right after St. Louis retires Marshall Faulk's number. That shouldn't be awkward.)
NFL Network draft maestro Mike Mayock has been beating this drum for the last six months: former Michigan left tackle Jake Long would make a much better right tackle in the NFL, at least to start his career. 
