Things looked a bit bleak coming out of Sunday’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals at the inside linebacker position as veteran Elandon Roberts went down with a groin injury and had to leave the game, returning for just one play before exiting for good.
On a short week leading up to Thursday’s game against the New England Patriots, it felt like there was very little chance that Roberts would be able to give it a go against a run-heavy team in the Patriots.
Surprisingly, though, Roberts recovered quickly, was able to practice on Wednesday, and then was able to play Thursday night against the Patriots. In the matchup against the Patriots, he played quite well, too.
Against the Patriots, Roberts played 46 of 57 total snaps and graded out at a 63.7 overall on the night, including a 70.8 against the run and a 64.3 as a pass rusher, as well as a 51.6 in coverage.
He made some key plays on the night, finishing with six tackles, a sack, and a pass breakup that led to linebacker Mykal Walker’s interception in the second half.
Let’s take a look at Roberts’ night from an All-22 perspective.
Roberts brings a serious physical presence to the defense, especially against the run. He attacks aggressively downhill, lays the wood to blockers, and really looks to set the tone.
Watch him here on one of the first plays against the Patriots. He attacks downhill, putting a real thump into tight end Hunter Henry, muddying up the hole against the run, helping Pittsburgh hold Ezekiel Elliott to a short gain.
The guy just loves to attack downhill. That’s his strength.
Even when he’s not exploding into a blocker against the run, he’s a sound run defender.
Roberts reads his keys, processes quickly, and is able to beat blockers to the hole. He does that here against the run, beating the tackle to the spot, cutting off the zone run for Ezekiel Elliott, and turning him back towards help defenders.
It won’t show up in the stats sheet, but it’s a very good play from Roberts.
He doesn’t get credit for a tackle on the play, but he should get an assist for turning Elliott back inside, away from the hole designed on the play.
Asking a tight end to block Roberts is putting a tight end at a disadvantage. The Patriots found that out time and time again on Thursday night.
Roberts doesn’t thump Henry as he did on the first rep of the game, but he’s able to stand in the hole at the point of attack.
Roberts gains control against Henry at the point of attack, getting his hands inside to create leverage against Henry. From there, he’s able to stack, find the football, shed and make a tackle of Elliott for a short gain.
It’s a sound rep. He stays square to the line of scrimmage, doesn’t allow Henry to turn him, and then he has the ability to get off the block and make a play on the football.
The Steelers asked Roberts to blitz quite a bit on Thursday night, and he was effective when rushing the passer.
His sack was drawn up perfectly for the Steelers as Pittsburgh ran a game up front with defensive linemen Montravius Adams and Keeanu Benton, freeing up Roberts to loop around behind and rush free.
Perfectly executed by the Steelers. Adams and Benton tie up the blockers by slanting down, and Roberts does a great job of sticking close to the defensive linemen, looping behind, and exploding downhill to get to Zappe for the sack.
Roberts looks very healthy here, racing downhill with no limitations for the sack. This was a great sign for the rest of the game when it came to Roberts’ health.
This play sums up Roberts’ play style for me. He plays with reckless abandon downhill and wants to dish out significant punishment every chance he gets.
He does so here on a screen to running back Ezekiel Elliott.
Roberts reads it quickly and explodes downhill, running right through center David Andrews to try and make a play at the catch-point. Though he doesn’t make the tackle, Roberts takes out a key blocker on the play.
Though the play goes for a decent gain, I loved how Roberts played this, attacking downhill, rather than letting Andrews get to him and block him. You can also see Benton get tackled on the play, with no flag thrown. NFL officiating at its finest.
Roberts truly is a bull in a china shop. He’s going to attack downhill with reckless abandon, throw his weight around, and really make offensive linemen feel him.
This play might be overlooked in the grand scheme of things, but Roberts firing downhill here, barreling through Andrews into the backfield, slows down the entire counter from the Patriots.
By running through Andrews, Roberts slows down the pulling tackle, allowing rookie outside linebacker Nick Herbig to get into the backfield and make the play for the loss. Run defense is an 11-man job. Roberts did very well on the play, and it allowed others to come up big for the Steelers.
In pass coverage, Roberts isn’t all that strong at it, but he’s really thrived in recent weeks in a full-time role. He’s held down that role with confidence, playing well even when on the field in passing situations. Teams like to go right at him in the passing game, but in recent weeks he’s made plays when tested.
He did just that in a big way in the second half Thursday against the Patriots.
Roberts gets eyes on Zappe in the pocket here and reads his progressions. He has a good feel for the crossing routes coming into his zone. By reading Zappe, he’s able to fire downhill to get to JuJu Smith-Schuster on the crossing route, getting a hand on the football to knock it into the air, leading to Mykal Walker’s interception.
Just a fantastic play from Roberts in coverage.
The last play I wanted to highlight here from Roberts, and it comes unsurprisingly against the run.
I love the way Roberts plays downhill. He’s a breath of fresh air in that aspect for the Steelers.
It’s all gas, no brakes downhill for Roberts against the run.
Roberts processes quickly here and shoots the gap between guard and tackle, coming downhill with force to put a hit on the running back.
He needs to tackle better here, but I really like the aggressiveness he plays with coming downhill against the run. He just really sets the tone for the Steelers defense in that area of the game. It’s contagious.
