Snap Counts: Did Steelers Find an Answer at Inside Linebacker?

Alan Saunders |

Updated: Dec 13, 2023

Steelers ILB Blake Martinez Mykal Walker — Pittsburgh Steelers inside linebackers Mykal Walker and Blake Martinez in a game against the New England Patriots on Dec. 7, 2023. -- Ed Thompson / Steelers Now

The Pittsburgh Steelers made some changes at inside linebacker in terms of personnel against the New England Patriots, swapping Blake Martinez into the starting lineup in place of Mykal Walker and giving him a fairly prominent role, while minimizing how much they used Mark Robinson.

Unfortunately, they did not get much different results, as tight end Hunter Henry gashed the Steelers to the tune of three catches for 30 yards and two touchdowns and running back Ezekiel Elliott caught seven passes for 72 yards and another touchdown out of the backfield. Of Bailey Zappe’s 240 passing yards, just 17 went to a purely outside receiver. That came after the Arizona Cardinals diced up the center of the Steelers defense the previous week.

So how did the new personnel change things, and what really happened? Let’s dive in.

The base-level snap counts tell us one story, as Elandon Roberts played 46 of 57 defensive snaps, despite being questionable to play coming in with a groin injury. Walker played 25, Martinez 21 and Robinson six.

One thing stands out right away when breaking down the distribution of those snaps. All but three of Martinez’ 21 snaps came in the Steelers’ base 3-4 Okie defense. The other three came in their 4-4 Bear heavy package. Martinez didn’t play a single snap in a sub package all night, which either shows that’s how the Steelers want to use him, or that’s the only part of the defense that he’s mastered to a level that they feel comfortable with him out there.

On the other hand, something clearly changed about the plans in the sub packages. In the first 11 snaps of the game in sub packages, it was Walker and Robinson in the Nickel and Heavy Nickel and packages and just Walker in the Dime package. It was Walker and Robinson on the field when Walker got picked and he gave up a touchdown to Elliott on the first drive.

In the second quarter, Roberts replaced Robinson in the Nickel packages. It was him and Walker on the field together when Walker stumbled and his safety help was late getting over, letting Henry score his first of two touchdowns (the second came against safety Damontae Kazee).

.@Patriots make use of the interception quick! Zappe to Henry for the TD 🙌#NEvsPIT on Prime Video
Also available on #NFLPlus https://t.co/0GJemAElFj pic.twitter.com/sMZTrR0LRv

— NFL (@NFL) December 8, 2023

After one more drive of that arrangement, Roberts replaced Walker in the Dime, as well. After the 12:00 minute mark of the second quarter, Roberts never came off the field again. It was Roberts and Martinez in Okie and Bear, Roberts and Walker in Nickel and just Roberts in Dime.

The in-game changes seemed to work. The Nickel allowed 64 yards on six plays with Robinson and Walker in the game, an average of 10.7 yards per play. With Roberts and Walker, the Nickel yielded 71 yards on 10 plays, or 7.1 yards per play. Still not great, but a significant difference.

The same thing happened in the Dime, where the Walker-led unit gave up 20 yards on four plays (5.0 yards per play). With just Roberts as the lone linebacker, the Steelers gave up only 26 yards on 11 snaps (2.4 yards per play).

There are 11 players on the defense, so you can’t attribute all of those changes to the changes made at the linebacker position, but the critical level of communication coming from that position does make an out-sized impact on the entire unit.

Now the question will be whether Martinez stays limited to the base package, or if he will start eat into some of Walker’s playing time in the Nickel if he continues to perform well. The Steelers have now listed Martinez as a co-starter at the position.

STEELERS OFFENSIVE SNAP COUNTS

Pos	Player	SF	CLE	LV	HOU	BAL	LAR	JAX	TEN	GB	CLE	CIN	ARI	NE
QB	Kenny Pickett	63	54	62	49	66	59	28	65	65	58	71	30	0
QB	Mitch Trubisky	0	0	0	10	0	0	39	0	0	0	0	31	70
QB	Mason Rudolph	QB3	QB3	QB3	QB3	QB3	QB3	QB3	QB3	QB3	QB3	QB3	QB3	0
RB	Najee Harris	33	31	31	29	37	34	35	38	33	33	38	36	40
RB	Jaylen Warren	25	23	28	29	32	27	32	26	33	26	34	36	37
RB	Anthony McFarland	5	IR	IR	IR	IR	IR	IR	IR	1	0	INA	INA	INA
RB	Qadree Ollison	—	0	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
RB	Godwin Igwebuike	—	—	INA	INA	INA	0	0	0	INA	INA	0	0	0
WR	George Pickens	56	46	55	58	58	53	62	58	62	53	53	49	60
WR	Diontae Johnson	27	IR	IR	IR	IR	39	61	57	53	50	52	44	48
WR	Allen Robinson II	56	47	50	50	57	38	46	47	50	45	45	33	41
WR	Calvin Austin III	35	41	45	53	37	7	18	17	13	10	18	9	20
WR	Miles Boykin	5	4	8	6	12	0	5	6	9	6	8	12	8
WR	Gunner Olszewski	INA	1	INJ	INA	4	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
TE	Pat Freiermuth	32	41	49	30	INJ	IR	IR	IR	IR	31	42	36	48
TE	Darnell Washingon	24	26	29	25	46	31	10	32	33	27	37	34	30
TE	Connor Heyward	17	10	13	15	37	51	49	40	34	8	24	19	11
TE	Rodney Williams II	—	—	—	—	4	11	12	3	3	0	4	5	4
LT	Dan Moore Jr.	63	54	62	8	INJ	59	66	65	65	58	71	61	70
RT	Chukwuma Okorafor	59	54	62	59	66	59	67	0	1	0	0	2	3
LG	Issac Seumalo	63	54	62	59	66	59	67	65	65	58	71	30	70
RG	James Daniels	63	54	62	INJ	INJ	59	67	65	65	58	71	61	70
C	Mason Cole	63	54	62	59	66	59	67	65	65	58	71	61	70
OT	Broderick Jones	4	0	0	51	66	0	5	65	65	58	71	61	70
OT	Dylan Cook	INA	INA	INA	0	0	INA	INA	INA	INA	INA	INA	INA	INA
C/G	Nate Herbig	0	0	0	59	66	0	0	0	0	0	0	31	0
OL	Spencer Anderson	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
OL	Ryan McCollum	—	—	—	—	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

STEELERS DEFENSIVE SNAP COUNTS

Pos	Player	SF	CLE	LV	HOU	BAL	LAR	JAX	TEN	GB	CLE	CIN	ARI	NE
DT	Larry Ogunjobi	43	51	49	46	48	49	53	50	44	53	30	56	38
DT	Montravius Adams	34	52	47	41	56	46	49	2	INA	INA	INA	INA	17
DE	DeMarvin Leal	26	39	33	21	INJ	23	14	24	4	5	3	5	INA
NT	Keeanu Benton	29	28	21	29	33	19	30	48	45	39	22	25	17
DT	Armon Watts	INA	22	18	34	18	17	28	INA	22	27	9	22	15
DT	Isaiahh Loudermilk	31	14	9	13	13	0	9	14	8	18	2	20	10
DT	Cam Heyward	14	IR	IR	IR	IR	IR	IR	41	40	46	35	50	43
NT	Breiden Fehoko	—	INA	INA	INA	0	INA	INA	INA	INA	—	—	—	—
OLB	T.J. Watt	48	70	59	62	60	57	56	69	66	73	39	54	52
OLB	Alex Highsmith	49	68	52	63	61	53	63	63	63	66	40	61	17
OLB	Markus Golden	25	19	20	13	14	14	14	11	5	8	4	9	INA
OLB	Nick Herbig	16	17	13	4	5	12	9	7	2	3	3	12	45
OLB	Kyron Johnson	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0	0
ILB	Cole Holcomb	53	78	53	63	64	56	64	16	IR	IR	IR	IR	IR
ILB	Kwon Alexander	47	52	47	27	31	47	38	64	9	IR	IR	IR	IR
ILB	Elandon Roberts	29	27	17	42	29	19	31	37	65	75	43	15	46
ILB	Mark Robinson	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	41	0	0	44	6
ILB	Tariq Carpenter	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0	0	0	—	—
ILB	Mykal Walker	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	63	33	65	25
ILB	Blake Martinez	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	21
CB	Patrick Peterson	67	85	71	71	63	67	71	74	68	74	41	53	54
CB	Levi Wallace	67	78	67	71	66	49	INJ	38	27	10	11	18	18
CB	Joey Porter Jr.	7	14	27	10	28	53	59	70	68	68	43	68	57
CB	James Pierre	0	0	0	0	0	2	9	0	0	12	0	0	INA
CB	Chandon Sullivan	13	47	18	21	24	22	28	16	19	27	18	17	8
CB	Darius Rush	—	—	—	—	—	INA	0	30	INA	INA	9	INA	0
CB	Desmond King	—	—	0	0	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
FS	Minkah Fitzpatrick	68	46	72	71	70	68	8	INA	INA	INA	INA	68	57
S	Damontae Kazee	49	77	53	34	43	58	67	74	68	75	43	62	51
SS	Keanu Neal	33	61	41	45	42	17	69	66	56	IR	IR	IR	IR
SS	Miles Killebrew	0	2	1	0	1	0	12	0	0	16	1	0	0
DB	Elijah Riley	0	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	21	9	IR	IR	IR
SS	Trenton Thompson	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	7	58	42	24	30