Myles Jack Feeling More Comfortable in Steelers Defense: ‘It’s Getting Better’
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — For the first time this season, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Myles Jack found himself in some familiar surroundings on Saturday.
The 26-year-old joined the Steelers as a free agent back in March, but before that, he played every down of his NFL career with the Jacksonville Jaguars. So playing at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville was certainly a familiar situation for Jack.
He’s still getting familiar with the intricacies of the Steelers’ defense, where he’s expected to be a key cog in the middle of that unit. Jack has established himself as one of the team’s starting inside linebackers, with incumbents Devin Bush and Robert Spillane battling for the other one. Jack was also the only linebacker to remain on the field the first time the Steelers ran through their six-defensive back Dime package.
Jack has also been wearing the green-dotted communicator helmet for the Steelers defense. That’s a lot for a first-year player with the team.
“I felt like left a lot of money out of out there on the table [on Saturday], but it’s getting better,” Jack said. “I can learn from them. It’s easy mistakes that I can fix. Once the season comes up, I’ll be ready to go.”
The Steelers spent a lot of time focusing on improving their run defense this offseason, and Jack is central to those plans. The new-look defense did not fare well in the preseason opener against Seattle, yielding over six yards per carry to the Seahawks. That improved to the four against Jacksonville.
“For me, personally I just tried to focus on not over-running plays sometimes,” Jack said. “The edge is gonna be set, so expect it to cut back and play back side. So starting to get a couple TFLs every game and just play past.”
Jack is also being asked to be a leader of the defense, and back where he spent so much time in Jacksonville, he was asked by head coach Mike Tomlin to be the team’s captain for the game.
“That was really cool,” Jack said. “Coach Tomlin let me know pretty early in the week. He was like, I want you to go out there and do the coin toss. I lost the coin toss. I’m 0-1 in my career. It was a cool experience going out there seeing the guys and him giving me that opportunity. That was really cool.”
With the page turned from Jacksonville and his past to his future in Pittsburgh, Jack looks like he’s getting more comfortable in his role and as a leader of the Steelers defense.
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