The Pittsburgh Steelers have lost their two primary signal-callers on defense in consecutive weeks, raising concerns about what’s next. Cole Holcomb went down with a knee injury against the Tennessee Titans in a game sealed by a Kwon Alexander interception. In the very next game, it was Alexander going down with an Achilles injury.
Who’s left? Elandon Roberts was the logical next man up to wear the green dot in-game on Sunday after Alexander’s injury against the Green Bay Packers. But head coach Mike Tomlin admitted, in a one-word answer yesterday in his pre-game press conference, that that role is currently “undecided.”
Is it really undecided, or is that the easy thing to say? Now, multiple players in a game will wear the green dot at some point for many teams, if not most of them. Unless you have a player who literally plays every single snap of every single game, that’s an inevitability.
The Steelers had Holcomb and Alexander sharing that role, and then Roberts, who has ample experience setting the defense in his time with the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins. But planning during the week for him as the top linebacker, how does the thought process change over time?
It could depend upon a multitude of factors. Occasionally, the job could go to a safety, and if Minkah Fitzpatrick is back, he could factor into the mix. Either Damontae Kazee or Keanu Neal, whether Fitzpatrick is back or not, could serve in that role as well.
But what about Mark Robinson, the other linebacker most likely to step into the starting lineup? The coaching staff has seemingly been a little reluctant to play him, but yet there was a snap in the last game in which he was the only linebacker on the field. So who had the green dot on that play?
I think we can reasonably assume that they are not going to give the green dot to T.J. Watt. They tried that once, and he couldn’t stand it. He wants no part of that role, preferring to play as free as possible without the added responsibilities.
Going back to Tomlin’s “undecided” answer, I think we can narrow down in more detail just what is not yet decided. I cannot reasonably envision a scenario in which Roberts is not wearing a green dot. Rather, it’s more a question of how much they are willing to ask him to do.
They left him on the field in a lot of coverage situations in the last game that they wouldn’t have ordinarily asked of him when they had Holcomb and/or Alexander. Could they delegate some of those responsibilities, with a week of planning and preparation, to Robinson or one of the safeties?
Robinson isn’t an infant. He’s been in the NFL for over a year now. He has experienced the entire calendar. He should know the defense. He knows how to run and hit. It’s really all a question of how comfortable he might be relaying plays. But if he were to get that role, they would give him plenty of help.
