If I would have told you prior to the season getting underway that the Pittsburgh Steelers were going to beat the Baltimore Ravens in week seven with Kelvin Beachum playing left tackle and Guy Whimper playing right tackle, you would have called me crazy. Ok, I am crazy, but that’s exactly what happened Sunday at Heinz Field.
Whimper, who was signed as a free agent during the offseason after being dumped in February by the Jacksonville Jaguars, took over for the injured Marcus Gilbert at right tackle in the first quarter and played well. How well? While the All-22 tape of the game is not yet available, the television replay shows that Whimper gave up at best a half a sack and a maybe a pressure or two as far as his pass protection went. In the running game, Whimper was part of an offensive line that helped produce a season-high 141 yards rushing.
Whimper, who is apparently called, “Abdullah The Butcher”, by his teammates, butchered Ravens defensive tackle Arthur Jones and outside linebacker Elvis Dumervil for most of the game. This, after not playing a single snap on offense in the first five games.
“We knew coming into this game that the two defensive ends , [Terrell] Suggs and [Elvis] Dumervil, were going to be some problems, so we worked extra hard this week to be able to neutralize them and we did a good job,” said Whimper after the game.
Beachum, who started his second straight game at left tackle, handled Ravens outside linebacker Terrell Suggs quite well even though he did allow a sack and a pressure or two. Beachum proved that his performance last week against the New York Jets wasn’t a fluke and he certainly deserves to remain the starter moving forward.
It’s still way too early to tell if Gilbert will back from his quad injury next week for the game against the Oakland Raiders, but if he isn’t able to go, Whimper has at least earned the opportunity to get start in his place. How crazy is that?
