Hilton and Alualu

come on Bush wasn't setting the world on fire. Spillane has one less pass defended but has an interception for 6. He has the same amount of fumble recoveries and two more tackles for loss in one less game. He also still plays a lot more special teams during the game. All this and cheaper and didn't cost us three high picks. He is either playing above his pay grade or the others are playing below theirs.

 

Bush didn't get to play against Jackson and have a ball thrown right to him. Interceptions, especially for linebackers, are fool's gold.

What you and others don't seem to get is that the Steelers had to make adjustments to cover for the lack of lateral mobility from their inside linebackers with Spillane in there. That is why you see Dupree and Watt in the middle of the defense so often now. On the plus side, another adjustment is to play Highsmith, Dupree, and Watt all together, though that also ties into the absence of Hilton.

 

Same with Vince but they keep putting him back in the starting lineup. Another thing is Bush's speed hadn't created much more production. The adjustments made have also backfired so far.

 

The adjustments made didn't backfire against the Titans. The injuries continued to mount. Most importantly, they lost Alualu. That took away a player who had been dominating inside and forced them to give major snaps to guys who were on the practice squad a few weeks ago. The run defense was dominant with everybody healthy. Part of what we have seen in the last two weeks is the cumulative effect of all of those losses. Part of it was the Steelers not being able to cover up for the downgrade from Bush to Spillane as teams got more film on the latter.

I've tried explaining this before. One inside linebacker like Williams is not as much of a problem as two. Hopefully, Williamson helps to deal with that issue soon.

 

After we lost Bush in order for this D to still remain dominant we couldn’t afford anymore injuries to key guys in the run game. Both Tyson and Hilton were almost hurt at the same time and you have the product of these last two weeks. Hope this kid from the Jets can play I think Spillane is best served in a special team/backup role.

 

As I said the coaches need to quit changing things so much because it is backfiring. Just because Bush could run faster doesn't make him more productive. 10 of Bush's 26 tackles are assists. Only 3 for Spillane out of his 26. Spillane has two tackles for loss, while Bush had zero. Bush had one more pass defended then Spillane. Spillane has one more interception then bush. Bush played 5 games to Spillane s 4. Spillane still has the green dot. In theory Bush should be light years ahead but the numbers don't show it. Spillane has also played 3 of those games against tougher opponents then bush. Actually 4. Two of them division opponents. Alualu hilton and Williamson will help and it may keep butler from over thinking. His system is smoking and overloading at this point, trying to out guess other teams.

 

You can disagree but the numbers are right there. As I said HI Watt for as good as he is has played poorly. He doesn't set the edge against the run. He rushed inside and they run outside right past him. The last two games have been his worst production all year. He has 26 tackles on the season. Zero tackles for loss the last two weeks. Half a sack. Sacks are fine but he's been bad against the run this year.

 

The results speak for them selves. Our run defense has tanked since Bush's injury.

Live in denial if you want, clearly the steelers management disagrees with you, they made a rare trade to replace Spilane as the starter.

 

Look at how these guys are graded. Spillane is not good in coverage at all. He made two nice plays against the Ravens, both on bad throws by Jackson. He is a strong tackler and he does a nice job when he is allowed to attack the line of scrimmage, but his lateral movement is week and he is getting fooled too often on running plays. Take the big tackle Mondeaux made late against the Cowboys as an example. Did you notice that if he didn't make the tackle, the back had a ton of room to run? That's because Spillane was running the wrong way.

Bush is a far better player. You should have learned that lesson watching the game against the Ravens, but you were too busy being fooled by Spillane managing to catch the ball Jackson put right in his chest.

 

Aren't most interceptions mistakes by the qb? Oh, I see he's not good at it but made 2 nice plays. Bush is better because he's faster. Tell the other teams that so they will be scared. They must only be counting half of Bush's tackles I guess. His are fantastic but Spillane are below par even if they are better. I see your point. Not!!!

 

Actually, many interceptions are fantastic plays by a defender. Bush is better for many reasons, one of them being that he is far quicker.

Let me guess. You actually Bush was only starting over Spillane because he was a first-round pick, right? Please tell me you take it that far. I could use the amusement.

 

don't try to put words in my mouth, no I don't think he should be. I will say Spillane is playing very well and the numbers show it. If you watch the interception, Spillane set up Jackson and jumped the route as it should have been so stop with the premise that it was just a mistake by jackson. Spillane played it very well, counter to your premise that he's not good in coverage. He's also fast enough. Go read up on the article written about how fast he was running that pick into the end zone. Go ahead look it up, it's not hard to find.

 

That interception by Spillane was fantastic defense. Don't allow others to control the game by their opinion. Facts are clear... go to Moats film study on that play and he breaks it down on how Spillane made the play. It was not "thrown right to him".

I like Spillane. I like Bush. ...but Bush isn't here. I hope Avery does well, but he is not going to replace Spillane.

 

Look at the run D since we lost Bush. Now of course we have also lost Tyson and Hilton has been hurt so it’s probably hard to compare apples to apples. Once those guys are back I guess we can grade it more efficiently.

 

You are seeing things that weren't there. He didn't set anything up. He dropped in his zone and took all of one small step in the right direction. I will not stop with that premise because I'm right. Jackson gift-wrapped that one for Spillane.

PFF grades players in coverage. They have Spillane among the worst linebackers in the league in that area.

Also, please learn to comprehend what you read more clearly. I'm not talking about straight-ahead speed. I'm talking about quickness in pursuit, the area in which Spillane is lacking. You are the one trying to make it about straight-ahead speed. It goes back to your overly simplistic approach to player evaluation.

 

Spillane has played well, but he's not the player Bush is. Tackle stats can't really be used to measure a players overall usefulness. As someone else mentioned, a tackle for a 1 yard gain is the same as one 12 yards down the field. Also keep in mind, there's a lot of plays that Bush makes, without registering a stat. For instance, if he's reading a play and filling a gap, causing a RB to lose his intended hole, the RB has to cut back or change directions, allowing others to make the stop.

 

I would assume the guy from the NYJ will take over Bush’s spot once he is more comfortable with the D. Spillane is a decent depth player but not a long term solution for the rest of this year.

 

Agreed. The Steelers keep trying to adapt their defense to cover for the loss of Bush and it hasn't been working the last two weeks. Hopefully, Williamson gets up to speed quickly.

 

I'll try and simplify it.
Spillane is getting easy tackles that are right in front of him cause he's being picked on.
Bush's quality of tackles were much better because he chased down opponents to make those plays.
If you're looking solely at numbers then yeah looks like Spillane is doing good, but if you watch the tape and dig deeper you'll see that while it's a good story he's a liability.

 

Getting a healthy Alualu and Hilton back helps this team immensely.

Spillane, with limited experience, has made some splash plays and contributed positively to the team.

Williamson, with his experience, should positively contribute this season. Much better replacement than S Spence. Am I right?

V Williams has made splash plays, making TFL. Better to have Hilton in coverage though.

It’s a team game, Steelers need all to be successful. Losing 3 starters/contributers hurt. Playing against some good rushing teams hurt. But the offense was good enough to have a lead and put the defense on the field in passing situations to close it out. It’s a team game.

 

As others have said losing Bush was a huge hit to this defense. The impact is almost as bad as losing shazier in 2017, however we have more playmakers this year to try and cover for that.