Last year we witnessed a hidden gem in Steele. I'm not sure if it had to do with competition making him play better (Collins) or he really worked that hard to get better in the off season.
So far in camp I'm not sure he's looked that good. I know the season hasn't started, but is anyone concerned? God forbid the bad snaps mostly came against #11 and we know how terrible #11 is (ha ha). But is hunger still the same, I hope he builds off last season. Give me your thoughts
Always concerned because we don't know how a player is going to perform until he does it. We have seen Steele, so we know somewhat what to expect, but this year, he's the clear starter and teams have lots of footage of him to study in order to know how best to attack him. Whether he'll be up to that challenge is hard to say.
That being said, there's a lot about training camp that does not mirror what will happen during games. For one thing, there are a lot more one-on-ones/isolation drills in camp while the offensive line works as a unit during games with blocking schemes that give the lineman specific assignments on each play. Now, of course, there are some drills where the line blocks as a unit, but it's important to notice when it is just one-on-one blocking.
Second, there's a speed difference between practice and games, so if you're going half-speed and the defender is not, then you're going to get beat. Games ramp up the urgency compared to maybe getting a little lackadaisical at times during practices. That's not really a good excuse because if one player is going all out, your intensity needs to match that ... but that's not the reality.
Third, he's getting beat by a couple of our best pass rushers. Of course, other teams have good to great pass rushers as well, but consider the number of reps that these guys see each other in practice. Steele is going against Lawrence and Parsons down after down after down, so they are very familiar with each other and he gets every move in the book thrown at him for them to win on occasion. Going into each regular-season game, film study is a very important part of the process to understand what the player(s) you'll be facing like to do and how to counter it, not just as a single lineman but as the entire line. It's a good thing for him to go against the technique and power of Lawrence and the speed of Parsons because it gives him two distinct styles to go against.
Now, maybe I'm just trying to explain away his losses, but I just think the distinction between camp and games is important. I hope too that he's able to build off last season, but what he showed us last year might be the best that we can expect. Las year, he was a really solid run blocker and an OK pass blocker. We might have to live with that.