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Steelers vs. Ravens: Maurkice Pouncey could move to guard

The Pittsburgh Steelers will shift Maurkice Pouncey to left guard as they deal with multiple offensive line injuries, despite the fact that he's been an All-Pro at center the past two years.

J. Meric

The banged-up nature of the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line will likely cause All-Pro center Maurkice Pouncey to switch positions, moving from center to left guard in order to replace an injured Willie Colon, reports Mark Kaboly of the Tribune-Review.

By consensus, Pouncey has been one of the best centers in the league since his rookie season in 2010. After briefly playing guard in training camp, he shifted back to his natural center spot. He's been an All-Pro and a Pro Bowler each of his past two seasons and led all centers in fan voting for the Pro Bowl when the early numbers were released Wednesday. But with four injured offensive linemen, he'll be most useful to the team at left guard while Willie Colon deals with a knee injury.

Doug Legursky is Colon's backup, and played left guard last week, but Legursky feels he's better suited at center and the team agrees. Pouncey did start at guard his freshman year, but switched to center as a sophomore and hasn't even practiced at the position since his rookie year training camp.

The Steelers will start rookie Kelvin Beachum at right tackle, with Marcus Gilbert's backup, rookie Mike Adams, now injured. It's not clear how long Colon will be injured, with his return allowing Pouncey to return to center.

Photographs by dizfunk used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.