All eyes were on former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Devin Bush heading into Sunday’s matchup between the Steelers and Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field in Seattle, especially with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft making his first start of the season against his former team.
Not only was that a juicy storyline, Bush made some waves himself earlier in the week, stating that he knew how to stop the Steelers’ run game thanks to his experience in training camp and practices throughout his time in Pittsburgh.
That backfired rather quickly for Bush, though, as the Steelers rolled through the Seahawks on the ground Sunday in a 30-23 win. The Steelers rushed for 202 yards and three touchdowns and flat-out dominated in the run game, doing whatever they wanted to do against Seattle.
That said, Bush did have 17 tackles in his matchup against the Steelers, though just five of those were solo stops. On paper, the 17 tackles are eye-opening, but for former Steelers’ defensive lineman and current analyst Chris Hoke, they were cheap assists.
Appearing on KDKA-TV’s Extra Point Sunday night after the Steelers’ win, Hoke pushed back on the 17 tackles from Bush, stating that he was jumping on the pile to get assists, and that he struggled against the run all game long.
“Casey Hampton and I used to call those JOPs: just jumping on the pile and they give you an assist. He had a lot of JOPs,” Hoke said of Bush’s 17 tackles, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “He struggled in the run game and his tackles were not where linebackers need to make tackles. Linebackers need to play downhill and he just doesn’t play that way. He plays more sideline to sideline, lateral, and you just can’t play that way in the NFL.”
Bush did jump on a lot of piles Sunday, as evidenced by his 12 assisted tackles. Hey, good for him though. The stat book shows 17 tackles for him in his first matchup against his old team, one that all but benched him down the stretch last season and moved on rather quickly in free agency.
Even with the 17 tackles though, Bush was a liability against the Steelers’ run game. The Steelers attacked downhill all game long, running the football over and over again, taking it to the Seahawks.
After stating earlier in the week he knew how to stop it, Bush’s words rang empty. He had no answer.
“They were running right at Devin Bush,” Hoke added regarding Bush. “You go back and watch this film [they ran at him] all day long and he did a lot of what he had done when he was here in Pittsburgh, just couldn’t step up and fill gaps. He struggled in the run game and that’s why the Steelers got rid of him.”
The Steelers certainly ran right at Bush on Sunday. They did so time and time again, and they had great success. They had familiarity with Bush and knew his limitations, and they exploited them.
He really had no answers for stepping up and filling gaps, like Hoke said, and when plays flowed to the sideline Bush couldn’t make the plays, either.
But hey, 17 tackles! Sure looks good on the stats sheet, but it meant very little of substance within the game. A lot of jumping on piles and getting assists, much like he often did throughout his career in Pittsburgh.
