Quietly, one of the best developments of an otherwise trying season for the Pittsburgh Steelers has been the relative return closer to pre-injury play for fourth-year linebacker Devin Bush, who is playing good football as of late next to veteran inside linebacker Myles Jack.
On the season, Bush is up to 42 tackles in seven games playing roughly 65% of the snaps. He has just two missed tackles on the season and is sporting one of the lowest missed tackles rates of the year on the Steelers defense at 4.5%.
Along with the steady increase in tackles, the aggressiveness and determination working downhill against the run has increased greatly for Bush this season. Playing next to Jack has certainly helped that, as has the play of the defensive line in front of Bush. He’s fully confident in his knee at this point in his recovery, and is really trusting his eyes and instincts, finding himself around the football consistently week to week.
Asked Tuesday during his weekly press conference if he believes Bush is getting back to his former self pre-injury, Tomlin quickly agreed, but added the he’s been that way all season and that it’s not just a one or two week storyline that recently popped up for the fourth-year linebacker.
“I agree. I agree, but I think that that’s been the storyline regarding him for the 2022 season,” Tomlin stated to reporters Tuesday, according to video via the Steelers official YouTube page.
One thing that is very noticeable with Bush is his aggressiveness working downhill this season. In the past, he was too conservative in that department. Granted, that can still be an issue at times, but he’s a more aggressive, attacking linebacker rolling downhill towards the line of scrimmage as a run defender.
He’s much more aggressive, playing with physicality and has a noticeable edge to his game, which might be coming from playing next to Jack, who carries himself with serious confidence and has a clear chip on his shoulder.
Though there still remains some issues at times with Bush, particularly in coverage, he’s playing some good football at the moment for the black and gold, which is rather encouraging.
Is that bar low though, considering the tape he put out there in 2021? Sure, that’s a fair counterpoint. He’s not making the impact that a former top 10 pick should be expected to make either. That said, he deserves praise for the rebound he’s had this season. He’s still a relatively young player, of which the arrow is pointing upward with.
