Former Steelers Center Maurkice Pouncey Talks About The 1 Sneaky Signal The OL Used To Dominate Opponents

The Pittsburgh Steelers had a dominant offensive line during the 2010's. Two players integral to that line's success were center Maurkice Pouncey and guard Ramon Foster.

Foster was an undrafted free agent picked up by Pittsburgh in 2009, one year before they drafted Pouncey in the first round. The two became fast friends and that off-field chemistry led to success on the field.  

Now Foster hosts a podcast, The Ramon Foster Show on DK Pittsburgh Sports and his most recent guest was his friend and teammate Pouncey. One of the topics they discussed was how good that offensive line of their time was; how those players held each other and themselves accountable and did all they could to be the best they could. 

That included a secret signal they employed to help the line be successful, even in unfriendly environments. 

Steelers' Ramon Foster Shares The Secret Signal He Had With Maurkice Pouncey

Regardless of how good your offensive line is, one of the most challenging tasks they are faced with is playing in enemy territory. Just like how Steelers fans get loud when the opponent's offense is on the field, other teams do the same for us. It can make it very challenging to hear the play being called or any adjustments and/or changes that get called out. 

The core group at that time - Poucey, Foster, David DeCastro, Marcus Gilbert, and Ben Roethlisberger played together for several seasons. They all learned to communicate with each other and created a system that prevented the loud stadium from having an impact. It made it so they didn't have to worry about the noise and could just focus on the game. 

Most times, the quarterback, running back, or receiver gets all the credit for big plays. However, those big plays would never happen if it wasn't for the center, and almost no one did it better than Pouncey. He would be relied upon to get to the line of scrimmage and identify the defensive front and lock in on the middle linebacker. To achieve those seamless starts, they had a signal they used. 

Foster asks Pouncey about the secret signal they had while he was on the show. Pouncey joked around that Foster only used that signal so he could get on TV because he stood up above the line and is so tall, he was very visible. Foster asks Pouncey if he was surprised that it worked and that no one caught it. 

"I didn't understand how people wouldn't jump it all the time. It was very, very often that we went one on one. It's kinda like two head bobs every time. Like bro, you should easily be back there on top of the snap. But we did a good job of snapping early too."

The way their signal worked was that Foster gave the indicator for Pouncey to snap the ball during away games. Foster would wait at the line of scrimmage for Roethlisberger to make his reads. Then once the quarterback sent him the signal he was ready for the snap, Foster would drop into his stance and tap Pouncey on the thigh. 

For many offenses, this would lead to a lot of false starts but the Steelers practiced so often and worked so well together that they communicated effectively and avoided penalties according to Pouncey. 

"I'm telling you right now Ramon, as soon as I felt that touch, I don't care if my head was up or not, the ball was going back." 

 Foster echoes those sentiments saying he didn't realize how much the other linemen relied on their system. 

"[Marcus Gilbert] told me later, I'm tall, I'm like 6'6", Gil used to see me go up and come down. He wouldn't look at you, he would look at me go down and know when to go."

Coach Sean Kugler, offensive line coach for the Steelers from 2010-2012, gets the credit for the system from Foster and the Cincinnati Bengals get the blame. 

"It was Coach Kuges that started doing that. He had us switch over to that because it was Cincinnati with the double barrel. They would put a linebacker in both gaps."

Pouncey agreed, but said that Foster was really the innovator. 

"I think that did a better job of helping the guys out when you took full control of it. Just me doing the head bob wasn't enough, but seeing the motion of you going up and down as well probably helped them out tremendously."

Cincinnati would do some tricky stuff of defense according to Foster, moving guys around. He asked Pouncey if that bothered him.

"It bothered me more mentally because I have to worry about what the running back is going to do. I didn't want the running back to mess up because it's too hard to re-point, you're at an away game, you're on silent, and it's too hard to yell back to your running back."

Foster said people ask him all the time about the tap system.

"It was just the rhythm of it more than anything."

Pouncey recounts a story of when guard BJ Finney switched sides on the line. 

"How crazy was it when Finney went over there? He didn't even tap me. That's not an easy thing to do - you're worried about the guy you got to block, the play we are running, what if an audible happens and then you gotta tap, turn around, look and see when the quarterback is lifting his leg, tap and go back to it."

What do you remember most about the offensive line during that time? Do you think our new line will be able to create a similar kind of relationship? How do teams build and foster that kind of communication and trust among players? Click to comment below. 

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