FanHouse Max Starks

As we have done since the FanHouse began, I'll be taking a look every week at some aspect of line play. You can read more features in the series here. Check back every Thursday for a new Between The Lines.

For three years I rewatched every Steelers game with an eye on the offensive line. And a good bit of the time, it wasn't pretty. Whether it was a debacle against the Raiders in 2006 or the mass of confusion against the Eagles in 2008, there have been plenty of lowlights.

After watching the Steelers win the Super Bowl last year despite a struggling offensive line, I kind of figured that if everything went well, Pittsburgh could figure out a way to do it again. They had enough defense and enough skill position players on offense to make up for the offensive line's problems.

The Steelers are 1-2, without Troy Polamalu, and face a huge test against the Chargers on Sunday night. The biggest story line heading into the weekend? Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers' offensive line headlining a WWE Raw (!) event Monday night.

Evidently, there are concerns that Big Ben and his five fat friends aren't taking their day jobs seriously. Because everyone knows that true professionals think about football every waking moment.

In any event, left tackle Max Starks isn't worried. Via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

The old days of Pittsburgh being known as a team unwilling to spend the big bucks need to buried and forgotten. Pittsburgh capped off an extremely busy offseason of signings by re-signing defensive end Brett Keisel to a four-year contract extension.

By re-signing Keisel, Pittsburgh now has re-upped James Harrison, Max Starks, Heath Miller, Chris Kemoeatu, Trai Essex and Hines Ward during this offseason. While that still leaves a significant number of Steelers heading into the final year of their contracts (Casey Hampton, Willie Parker, Ryan Clark, Willie Colon and Jeff Reed are the most notable) it is a clear sign that Pittsburgh is willing to spend the money to keep the bulk of the Super Bowl champs together.

Two games into the preseason, the Steelers are a good bit closer to deciding which offensive linemen will be making the 53-man roster, and it's remarkable how much the conventional wisdom has changed from what we thought we knew during the summer.

Kraig Urbik was supposed to battle for a starting job at guard. Instead, he's likely to make the team entirely on the basis of future potential, as he hasn't shown that he's capable yet of contributing to the 2009 Steelers. Guard/tackle Ramon Foster has gone from a little known undrafted free agent to someone whose not only nearly a sure-bet to make the roster, but also someone who could make the 46-man active roster this season. And Doug Legursky has gone from being a practice squad player to a productive fill-in on the first team.

It doesn't seem to matter if the Pittsburgh Steelers are coming off a non-playoff season or a Super Bowl title, at the start of training camp there always seems to be plenty of worries about their offensive line. It's been a common thread at the start of each and every training camp over the past four years.

It's business as usual this year, which means that the team's biggest concern is whether Trai Essex is ready to be a starter at guard and can a year of playing together make a big difference for the rest of the projected starters. We got our first glimpse against the Cardinals last Thursday night. So what did they show?

It's the preseason, but you always want to see your team win. So tonight was a good night for Steelers fans, even if it was the third-team Steelers beating the third-team Cardinals 20-10.

But since it was the preseason, individual efforts were much more important than the final score.

In the first game at least, there was more good than bad for Pittsburgh.

As we get ready for the 2009 season, nearly everyone but the Steelers coaching staff sees the offensive line as the weakest link in the team's bid to repeat as Super Bowl champs. In fact, ESPN.com's AFC North blogger James Walker made that case again this week.

But Frank Tursic over at Steel City Insider has gone further to try to figure out whether offensive coordinator Bruce Arians was being completely straightforward when he said that only 19 of the 49 sacks the Steelers gave up last year were the fault of the offensive line.

A couple of months ago, the list of Steelers free agents after the 2009 season looked downright frightening. But slowly and surely, Pittsburgh is whittling down its collection of potential departures.

First the Steelers re-signed left tackle Max Starks to a four-year extension, now there's word that they are working on a long-term deal with free safety Ryan Clark. The news comes from the NFL Network's Jason La Canfora (as relayed by Pro Football Talk).

The Steelers have never seemed to fully know what to do with Max Starks, but it seems clear that Starks has always wanted to be a Steeler.

Two years ago, Pittsburgh slapped Starks with a transition tag--guaranteeing him a contract worth nearly $7 million even though he was considered a backup. It took an injury to Marvel Smith to finally get Starks into the lineup on an everyday basis.

A year later, Starks was slapped with the franchise tag, as Pittsburgh once again decided that it both couldn't part with Starks, but also wasn't willing to work out a long-term deal immediately. But Starks has now gotten his long-term contract. although the terms seem more favorable to the Steelers than to Starks.