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

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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

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).

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
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