In Pittsburgh, it’s next man up. At inside linebacker, the Steelers are simply running out of men. Since Week Nine, the team has suffered injuries to their top three inside linebackers, two of which have been lost for the season. Cole Holcomb went down with a knee injury against the Tennessee Titans while Kwon Alexander tore his Achilles the following week. With the Steelers down to Elandon Roberts, he suffered a groin injury in Sunday’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals, attempting to but unable to finish the game.
It’s left the Steelers running a M*A*S*H unit at the position. They’ve cobbled together veterans from free agency in Mykal Walker, signed players off other team’s practice squads in Blake Martinez, brought back unretired players in Myles Jack, and when left with no other choice, used the lone returning ILB from a year ago in Mark Robinson.
Despite the difficult situation, DC Teryl Austin isn’t making excuses. Speaking to reporters Tuesday on the team’s short week, he said no one in the league is going to feel sorry for him.
“Really nobody gives a shit,” Austin said via The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo. “You’ve got to get it done.”
Getting it done is a whole lot harder without those top three names. Assuming Roberts can’t play against the New England Patriots Thursday night — he was deemed questionable by Mike Tomlin, but groin injuries are hard to immediately bounce back from — the Steelers will have four options: Walker, Robinson, Martinez, and Jack.
During his Monday press conference, Tomlin strongly hinted that Martinez and/or Jack will be given an opportunity to play this weekend. Since being signed off the Carolina Panthers’ practice squad, Martinez has been inactive the past two weeks as he gets up to speed in the Steelers’ system. And he’s only been unretired for two months, coming back to the NFL after his Pokémon company was banned. Jack has been working his way into game shape since retiring in the summer, pursuing other passions like owning a hockey team and flying planes until the Steelers rang his phone. Walker has logged significant snaps the last three weeks but struggled against the Cardinals, missing tackles and struggling to match TE Trey McBride in coverage.
Then there’s Robinson, whom the team clearly lacks full trust in, bypassed by numerous other options and he may lose out to Martinez or Jack this weekend. Pittsburgh values the experience those veterans have as the Steelers try to get basic things right like being able to communicate the play call.
It’s a situation reminiscent of 2017 when the Steelers scrambled to find Ryan Shazier’s replacement. They moved Arthur Moats from outside linebacker to inside linebacker. They brought back Sean Spence, who started four games. And L.J. Fort was in the mix, though he saw fewer snaps than he should’ve.
Ideally, Pittsburgh does enough to get through this game with a win, has a “mini bye” for Roberts to get healthy (though the Steelers playing on next Saturday costs them a day) and survives the rest of the season. Austin and the Steelers have been dealt a tough hand, there’s no question about that. But all people will remember is whether you won or lost so the Steelers have to make due with what they’ve got.
