As a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, you can recall the last few years of disappointment when it came to the team’s inside linebacker position. Since Ryan Shazier went down with a career-ending spinal injury, Pittsburgh has had a revolving door at inside linebacker, trying the likes of Devin Bush, Mark Barron, Jon Bostic, Joe Schobert, Myles Jack, Robert Spillane, and others there over the last few years with minimal results. They did have LB Vince Williams, who brought the boom as a downhill thumper but haven’t had that guy since Pittsburgh decided to part ways with him.
Until now.
The Steelers overhauled their inside linebacker room this offseason, signing Cole Holcomb, Kwon Alexander, and Elandon Roberts to the roster. Roberts especially has been labeled as a throwback player, bringing an aggressive mentality as a downhill thumper like that which Williams used to bring to the team. We got to see flashes of old “Bince” Monday night against Cleveland when Roberts came downhill on his own goal line and struck Browns RB Pierre Strong with a violent collision. Former NFL DB Jason McCourty highlighted that hit on GFMB, which aired on NFL Network, as one of his top defensive plays from Week Two.
“You guys gotta take another look at this,” McCourty said on GMFB. “This is him running downhill and just punishing, punishing somebody. That’s Pierre Strong the running back. Look at Elandon Roberts right here. E-Rob going downhill, making a hit and flexing. This is old-school linebacker play.”
This is the violence and reckless abandon that Pittsburgh has been missing from its inside linebackers. Roberts brings that in spades, having a no-nonsense demeanor about him as he craves contact, looking to be the hammer and not the nail when hitting opposing ball carriers.
“That’s Pittsburgh Steelers football right there,” McCourty said of Roberts’ hit.
Roberts left the game on Monday with a neck injury that HC Mike Tomlin called a stinger, suggesting that he’s going to be fine. Roberts needs to be smart and not put himself in situations like Shazier did on his hit, but you need to be aggressive and physical to play a grown man’s game against other alpha males.
The trio of Roberts, Holcomb, and Alexander has been a breath of fresh air at inside linebacker, flying around and creating big collisions. Still, the run defense needs to improve after the first two weeks as well as the ability to generate splash plays from that position group. This unit is capable of doing so, and with more time on the field together, hopefully Roberts and the rest of the inside linebackers can stabilize Pittsburgh’s run defense and create more splash of their own.
