On Wednesday, Pittsburgh Steelers left guard Ramon Foster said he will be in charge of helping the second-year offensive lineman Kelvin Beachum with the line calls during the Monday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals, according to Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
According to Foster, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will be relied upon to make sure the calls are right.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday during his Tuesday press conference that the initial plan is to start Beachum at center Monday night because they might not have enough time to get Fernando Velasco, who was signed on Monday, up to speed with the offense in such a short period of time.
Beachum told Will Graves of the Associated Press Wednesday that he credits spending Thursday nights at the house of injured center Maurkice Pouncey watching film for his quick adjustment to the center position.
Against the Titans, Beachum allowed two quarterback hits and a hurry after he took over at center for Pouncey, who tore both his ACL and MCL early in the game. Where the Steelers former seventh-round draft pick struggled the most, however, was in the run blocking department and that is an area that needs to improve by leaps and bounds by Monday night.
Despite working at the center position during the offseason and in training camp, Beachum unfortunately didn’t play many snaps at the position during training camp, and it showed Sunday against the Titans.
It is likely only a matter of time until Velasco becomes the starter, so if indeed Beachum does wind up starting Monday night against the Bengals, the team will need a herculean effort from him if they expect to run the ball against one of the best defensive lines currently in the league.
