By Matt Papiernik, @Matt_Papiernik on Twitter
SteelerNation.com
This news doesn't shock anyone. It was always anticipated that after Robert Spillane filled in for Devin Bush in Week 6 against the Cleveland Browns, that he would assume Bush's starting spot.
Pittsburgh Steelers head c0ach, Mike Tomlin made sure to make this known on his weekly news conference. He also made it pretty clear Spillane won't need to shoulder the entire responsibility himself.
"You saw Robert Spillane get an opportunity last Sunday and him make good use of it. We've got a great deal of confidence in Robert, and we'll continue to go largely with him in replacement of Devin. We will, through game-planning, look at all of our options in terms of dividing up the labor, but Robert will be the primary man responsible for replacing Devin, and we're excited about watching him play and play to the standards of our expectations."
By stating "Robert will be the primary man responsible for replacing Devin", Tomlin insinuates that there will be a group effort. He reasserts that point later in the Zoom call.
"We have a lot of confidence in all of these guys as I mentioned earlier. We still have some heavy game-planning to do here, particularly defensively for the remainder of Tuesday. We'll hammer out some of those details, such as who's wearing the 'green dot,' what's the division of labor. I doubt that Robert Spillane will be playing all of the defensive snaps, and so it'll probably require a combination of people in an effort to replace Devin Bush. That's not unusual under the circumstances, but all that remains to be hashed out. Just rest assured, we're comfortable with the capabilities of all of the men and there will be no excuses in terms of the performance of those who occupy the role."
Replacing Bush isn't a struggle just in terms of talent, but also in terms of communication. Bush was the player who wore the "green dot" which means he has the communication with the sideline in his helmet. This makes him responsible for communicating the play call to the defense.
Finding who will communicate the defense for the rest of the 2020 season will likely be a unique task. It is very likely that multiple people will share this responsibility.
My guess would be a combination of Vince Williams, Cam Sutton, and Spillane. One of Williams and Spillane will likely be on the field for the entire game, while Sutton frequently plays in sub-packages and is viewed as one of the smartest players on the defense.
Regardless who will get this responsibility, it will be exciting to watch Spillane get his first start in Week 7 against the Tennessee Titans!
Let us know below how you think Spillane will do in his first career start.
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