The lone bright spot on defense last night in the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-19 loss to the Denver Broncos was veteran inside linebacker Larry Foote, who registered 8 total tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble and 1 pass defensed in the week 1 loss.
Foote, who had sat out the Steelers Wednesday practice with a dinged up ankle, was all over the place and showed no ill-effects of the ankle injury.
Foote took over at the BUCK linebacker spot this year for long-time veteran James Farrior, who was cut loose during the offseason, and made is impact felt in the first half of action. While his ability early on in the game to get in the face of Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, he was not able to get home as the game wore on as the Broncos offense made use of quick passes in the their hurry-up offense in order to keep pressure off of Manning.
The fumble that Foote forced on the Broncos second offensive possession set the Steelers offense up on the Broncos 47 yard-line, but ultimately resulted in no points scored. While the defense failed to tackle well as a group, Foote was solid, even after the catch in zone coverage.
Hopefully the veteran can keep up that quality of play moving forward and the rest of the defense follows his lead.
