4 takeaways from Steelers preseason win vs Eagles

Linebackers struggle in coverage, Joe Schobert should help

Allowing easy passes over the middle of the football field was the Achilles heel to the Steelers defense in 2020, and apparently, they are rolling these struggles into 2021. Though this is something that the team attempted to work on and address, Pittsburgh’s linebackers were consistently allowing chunk plays over the middle of the field in the first half.

Devin Bush saw his first action since tearing his ACL early last year, and the results were not pretty, as he allowed a huge 34-yard gain on a post route to TE Dallas Goedert in which he allowed far too much separation. He and his fellow off-ball linebackers didn’t fare well in this department on Thursday night.

Fortunately, there is some hope that we could see improvement here. During the game against the Eagles, it was announced that the Pittsburgh Steelers were making a trade for Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker, Joe Schobert. The former Pro Bowler during his time with the Browns hasn’t been spectacular over the past two seasons, but has earned 7 interceptions during that stretch and has a great feel for coverage.

Schobert has a pretty big contract, and trading for him almost certainly means that Robert Spillane will be going back to a reserve role. The good news is that the pairing of Bush and Schobert should be much better in coverage than what Pittsburgh had last year.