Former Steelers LB Vows to Have Big Game with Raiders

Robert Spillane left the Steelers to head west to Las Vegas for a more lucrative deal as Pittsburgh looked to overturn their inside linebacker room. With the Raiders, Spillane has earned a massive role in the middle of their defense, and the team continues to ask a lot from Spillane as he settles in following his first few games with the team. But now that he gets to face his former team, the tone takes a different shift.

The Steelers never disrespected Spillane, and this is not bad blood. But it is someone who knows what the Steelers want from their inside linebackers. And when he plays, Spillane plays at 110 miles per hour with great physicality. He hopes to bring that mentality to the field on Sunday.

“They’re downright physical and tough,” Spillane said of his former teammates “Coach [Mike] Tomlin used to say that’s AFC North football, so I’m bringing a little AFC North football out to the west and return some in their favor.”

The Steelers have vowed to make sure they come out with a solid offensive performance. Spillane has logged 100 percent of the Raiders defensive snaps, not coming off the field for even a pause. That says much about his conditioning and who the Raiders think he is as a player. They blitz him, make him wear the green dot, and ask him to make plays in coverage. There’s a lot Spillane does in the middle of the defense, but Pittsburgh trained him to do that.

“Got a lot of respect for Rob,” head coach Mike Tomlin said. “Rob’s hard-working, he’s smart, he’s tough he’s a really good communicator. I don’t think any of us are surprised that he has ascendant within that group and has assumed a leadership-like position that he’s assumed within that group.”

Every Steelers fan knows what Spillane does well and poorly. In 2022, he played in 16 games and started five, earning playing time without the benefit of a starter injury for the first time in his career. Spillane played a career-high 59% of the team’s defensive snaps while maintaining his status as a special teams regular.

Spillane finished the season with 79 tackles, the most in his career, and third on the team, behind only Myles Jack and Minkah Fitzpatrick. He also had four tackles for loss, one sack, and four passes defended. Though his playing time increased, that wasn’t always a positive, as Spillane struggled in coverage and seemed miscast as the team’s Dime linebacker.

The Raiders ask him to do a lot but fit him more into a box. So far, that has allowed Spillane to play well. Now, he wants to do it against the team that helped him ascend in the NFL.