One of the biggest stories currently surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers is the injuries they’ve suffered at inside linebacker in recent weeks. In Week Nine, linebacker Cole Holcomb was lost for the season to a knee injury, and in Week 10, linebacker Kwon Alexander tore his Achilles and will miss the remainder of the season. On his All Things Covered podcast, Steelers CB Patrick Peterson talked about just how big of a loss it is with Holcomb and Alexander out for the season.
“That’s a real big blow because going into the season, I was just so confident in the three-man rotation that we had at the linebacker position with [Elandon Roberts], and Kwon [Alexander], and [Cole] Holcomb, and also Mark [Robinson] just being that special teams bell cow but also a reliable call we could call on,” Peterson said. “But that was a big blow for us, in back-to-back weeks to lose basically our quarterback of our defense. Missing those two guys is gonna be huge.”
Peterson did mention that Roberts is capable as the team’s most experienced linebacker, as he’s a guy who’s “won Super Bowls” and understands the importance of communication. Communication was a big issue for the Steelers on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, and Roberts had the green dot for most of the game after Alexander suffered his injury on the team’s first defensive drive.
With Alexander and Holcomb down and the Steelers not looking outside the organization it’s going to be up to Robinson, Mykal Walker and Tariq Carpenter to fill in and add depth at inside linebacker. Robinson and Roberts are the likely starters, but Walker has starting experience with Atlanta. He is a capable third inside linebacker, assuming he’s elevated or signed to the active roster ahead of Week 11 against the Cleveland Browns.
But there’s little doubt that the losses of Holcomb and Alexander will be felt. Specifically, Peterson mentioned losing the coverage ability that the two of them offered, and the Steelers don’t have an ideal internal option to take over the coverage role. The two best options might be Carpenter, a converted safety, and Keanu Neal, who played as a dime linebacker with the Dallas Cowboys. Neither Roberts nor Robinson are known for their coverage ability, so figuring out how to cover opposing running backs and tight ends is going to be an issue that Pittsburgh needs to solve.
It’s a next-man-up opportunity, specifically for the second-year Robinson and fourth-year Walker, who Mike Tomlin said earlier today was signed to the practice squad due to his NFL experience. We’ll see if they’re able to take advantage of the opportunity and help the Steelers maintain the level of play they’ve had at inside linebacker down the stretch.
Watch the full All Things Covered podcast below:
