Mike Tomlin was having some fun with the Steelers media the other day, basically accusing us of making too big of a deal over which of his inside linebackers will receive the defensive calls in his helmet. He says he’ll be fine either way.
“We’ve got two guys that are green dot capable, as you guys like to discuss,” Tomlin said, meaning Joe Schobert and Devin Bush. ”There are multiple helmets on the sideline, and you have the option between series to determine who that “green dot” is. So, we’ll exercise those options and leave it a little bit mystical.”
As the more veteran of the two, Schobert is expected to fill that role when he is on the field even though is is new to the Steelers.
But, if nothing else, Schobert has proven to be a quick learner – by necessity.
“It’s my sixth scheme in six years which is kind of nuts to think about,” Schobert chuckled this week. “It’s been a good learning process.
I’ve got a lot of veterans on defense I can ask questions to, on the field, off the field, on the sideline, coaching staff, I can go up to any one of them and ask questions and get ‘em answered. It’s been a pretty good transition for me.”
A common line of thinking has been that Bush can learn from Schobert but Schobert says it’s really been the other way around. “I’ve leaned on him a lot coming here because this is a brand new scheme and it’s his third year in it,” Schobert pointed out. “He’s been great to talk to on the field, pre-snap, he’s been a great communicator so I’m excited to see what we can do this year.”
It didn’t take long for Schobert to become a Devin Bush fan, maybe because he already was. “Devin reminds me a lot of Myles Jack down in Jacksonville,” Schobert said. “He’s a young guy, got a lot of enthusiasm out there, he’s obviously blessed athletically that’s why he went top ten in the draft.”
This Sunday, their athleticism and smarts will be tested in Buffalo by an offensive coordinator (Brian Deboll) and a QB (Josh Allen) that showed last December they know how to exploit mismatches against the Pittsburgh defense. Schobert figures that they will also come up with something new.
“Week one they’re always going to have wrinkles, they’re always going to have things you haven’t seen on tape because they know what we’re watching,” he explained. “There is definitely a sense of continuity, you can always expect their bread and butter plays, but you always have to expect the unexpected week one.”
While Schobert hasn’t faced Allen as a Steeler he did experience Allen in his rookie year. “I just remember one play where Beasley sat down between the hashes and I saw (Allen) eyeing him up so I made my break as his arm was in motion and the ball got there before I could dive and make a play on it,” said Schobert shaking his head. And he knows that Allen is a lot better now.
“I think he went from just a gunslinger/flamethrower guy his rookie year to really starting to understand the X’s and O’s,” Schobert continued. “He’s putting the ball accurately when he’s on the move to his receivers - Diggs, Beasley, the tight ends – he knows the personnel around him, how to throw to guys and you can really see that in his accuracy that’s improved over the three years.”
So Schobert expects to see Allen throw the ball. A lot. “As the NFL goes to a lot of three wide receiver sets you’re going to see nickel on Sunday from pretty much every defense around the league. The defensive coaches and offensive coaches are always playing chess matches and you’ll see as the year goes on what they find to be most effective.”
But while the Steelers prefer their nickel defense, when the Bills go to four WR sets – which will probably be often – he will be the linebacker left alone. “You’ll get a lot of DBs out there,” Schobert started before including himself, “93 out there running the middle of the field, doing things, we’ll figure it out.”
Steeler fans can only hope that they do.