By Kevin Gorman
July 28, 2018
Antonio Brown was open, so when the routine pass from Landry Jones landed at his feet the Steelers receiver shot a look back to the line of scrimmage to see what in the world went wrong.
There was a sickening sight: An offensive lineman down on the field, lying on his side and clutching his right knee with both hands. A quick count of the Steelers’ front five saw right tackle Marcus Gilbert, right guard David DeCastro, center Maurkice Pouncey and left tackle Alejandro Villanueva all still standing on Chuck Noll Field.
That left Ramon Foster.
Hearts dropped.
The linemen looked dismayed. Gilbert blessed himself with the sign of the cross. Some players saw Foster on the ground and dropped to a knee in prayer. Ryan Shazier, the linebacker who suffered a spinal-cord injury last season, stood nearby with a cane. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who had the day off from practice, knelt by Foster’s side.
After attention from the medical staff, Roethlisberger and defensive tackle Cameron Heyward helped pull Foster to his feet. With his left arm draped over the shoulders of Roethlisberger and his right arm around strength and conditioning assistant coach Marcel Pastoor, Foster was careful not to put pressure on his right leg.
Foster isn’t just the Steelers’ starting left guard. No. 73 has been a mainstay there since 2013. It was common to see Foster looking back at Roethlisberger for a play cue and tapping Pouncey on the left hip to signal a snap, a sign of silent communication and trust.
Foster started at least 14 games in each of the past seven seasons, a sign of his durability and reliability. His resiliency was on display from Day 1, when he beat out third-round pick Kraig Urbik for a roster spot and, despite losing battles for a starting job to the likes of Trai Essex and Doug Legursky, battling to make 115 career starts.
After practice, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin refused to speculate on the extent of Foster’s lower-body injury. NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport later tweeted Foster’s injury was “not thought to be serious.”
If so, that’s better than it first appeared. Steelers players appeared dismayed at the potential loss of a player Tomlin called a “core member of our group” who has been playing “for a long time and doing it at a high level.”
Foster isn’t just a Steelers veteran. He’s a 6-foot-5, 328-pounder who is affable and approachable, an outspoken locker-room leader who has the team’s respect. Everyone loves Ramon. An undrafted free agent, Foster had beaten the odds to carve out that long career at a high level.
This is the worst part: He wasn’t just entering his 10th NFL season but the final year of his contract. The Steelers know how much they need Foster if they want to win a Super Bowl, and they know how much the 32-year-old Foster needed one more solid season to earn a pay raise and extension. No wonder his teammates appeared to be crushed for him.
This happened in the first practice in full pads at Saint Vincent College, and it momentarily drained the excitement from a crowd that came to cheer on the Steelers. They were being entertained by the air show at Latrobe’s Arnold Palmer Regional Airport, with Thunderbirds flying overhead in formation, and their first taste of tackle football.
The Steelers had just finished their annual rite of the first practice in pads of training camp, the backs-on-‘backers drill. Tomlin handpicks matchups, forcing a running back to block a linebacker to simulate pass protection. It’s a drill full of violent collisions, a necessary evil to determine not just a player’s physicality but willingness to compete.
And then there was Foster, injured on a pass play.
“Unfortunately,” Tomlin said, “it’s a part of the game.”
And the game moves on, with or without you.
Roethlisberger and Pastoor guided Foster to the back of a cart on the grass field. Roethlisberger sat in the front seat, placing his left hand on Foster’s shoulder pads. As the cart carrying Foster drove away, fans applauded in appreciation.
The Steelers, meantime, moved 20 yards downfield and resumed the full-contact practice. B.J. Finney, an undrafted free agent in his third season, lined up at left guard. Jones completed a deep pass to Brown along the opposite sideline, and Steelers fans erupted with cheers.
Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin at kgorman@tribweb.com or via Twitter @KGorman_Trib.
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