QUOTE: “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." -- John Wooden

On Tuesday,the Steelers signed offensive tackle Max Starks to a long-term deal, allowing them to gain some cap flexibility with a four-year extension. Starks got $26 million -- are you kidding me? What a country we live in. This is what makes persistence for offensive linemen a great virtue. Just start some games and there’s a very good chance you’ll receive a huge deal.

Max StarksAPMax Starks

Now, I don’t have anything against Max Starks or any of the Steelers’ offensive linemen, but their little group last year destroyed a theory I had believed for most of my NFL career. I have tremendous respect for their team, their coaching staff and their whole organization. They were the best team in the NFL in 2008 and deserved to win the Super Bowl. I say that as a backdrop to this column. It’s just that I have questions about their offensive line in terms of talent level.

The theory or principles are very simple: Offensive and defensive lines matter the most. Teams that make the final four in the NFL, in essence the conference championship games, must have at least seven of the 10 offensive and defensive linemen (I count a fifth defensive lineman as a starter, most likely a nickel rusher) graded in the top 15 at their positions. The Steelers had no offensive lineman make that mark, yet they won the whole thing. Does this kill my theory? Does this make me head back to the drawing board? Alternatively, does this mean all my evaluations of the Steelers linemen are wrong?

In my mind, to build an NFL team to win a Super Bowl, or to build a successful business, the same steps are required. Study the organizations that are successful over the long term. Study what they do, how they work, how they maintain excellence. Remember, according to Peter Drucker, the business management guru, “being an entrepreneur is not coming up with a new idea, but rather taking an existing idea and making it better.” When you’re running an NFL team, you must have principles because you are much like a veterinarian. The patient doesn’t speak, so to determine what’s wrong, you must rely on principles and theories that have been tested over time.

Those theories serve as the blueprint to building a team. Therefore, I would place all my resources into building the best offensive and defensive lines in football. Before covering the lines, I would do whatever it took to secure a long-term solution to the quarterback problem, pay any price and bear any burden to make sure that position was secure. Once the quarterback position was covered, all my attention would be directed to the lines.

Josh FreemanBucs quarterback Josh Freeman

Rebuilding the lines requires a 24-month approach to player procurement. You must start once the season ends by asking one fundamental question: Who will be the back-up line in the first preseason game? From left to right tackle, each position must be covered with a player who can function in a professional game with a chance to develop into a potential starter. You cannot expect a bunch of college free-agent offensive linemen to play in a professional game. One breakdown in the line causes entire offense to break down. For example, the Tampa Bay Bucs must have a very good back-up line if they want to maximize the game repetitions for QB Josh Freeman. If Freeman gets in the game behind a crappy line, he will be running for his life, not learning how to play quarterback.

At the current training camp, there must be a depth chart board that will highlight the players under contract for the following season. This board will focus on the question, “Which players will be the back-up offensive and defensive lineman for the next year’s camp?” Then, as the preseason and regular season start, you search for players to fill those needs you might have.

Those are my principles and my plan to adhere to them. The Steelers are NFL champions, but they don’t have an offensive line that resembles a champion. They have defensive linemen who are clearly a cut above most teams in the NFL, but when you look at their offensive line, who do you feel is a blue-chip player? (I expect Steelers fans to rip me for being too hard on their line, but when you rank 29th in the league in sacks allowed, with the toughest quarterback in the NFL to tackle, something is wrong. So be a little objective here.)

I’ve looked very carefully at the Steelers’ offensive line and really don’t feel that I missed on my evaluations. So how did they win it all -- with Max Starks at left tackle no less? They did it because the beauty of the NFL is that there are many ways to win. Just because a team doesn’t do it the way I would doesn’t discredit its accomplishments. The Steelers managed their line well; they knew what they could and could not do, then worked around their problems.

My favorite scene from the movie “Apollo 13” is when all the scientists are in a room around a very long table, and a man walks in with a bunch of material and spreads it on the desk. He then says, “We must make this material into this design that’s on the blackboard.” Not one scientist complains but rather finds a solution to the problems. That, to me, is what the Steelers did -- they found a solution. Meanwhile, I did all the complaining.

Congratulations to Starks. I’m happy for his success on the field that resulted in a new deal. It won’t change my evaluation of his talents, nor my theories on how to build a team, but it has caused me to give this great thought.

As Jack Nicholson once said, “I want to know -- you understand? I like knowing the other side. That, to me, is the elixir of life.”