PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It’s why you bring linebacker Elandon Roberts to your team. For games against the Ravens, Browns and Thursday night against Tennessee. The Steelers middle linebacker will be key in bringing down one of the toughest running backs to tackle in this generation.
Titans Derrick Henry is third in the NFL in yards after contact as over half of his yards come after someone tries to tackle him.
“He’s a good back,” Roberts said rather matter-of-factly. “Obviously, he’s been doing good things since he’s been in the league. He’s big in what they do in their offense.”
Henry is the Titans leading rusher by a wide margin and is also the team’s fifth-leading receiver. He’s coming off his second, 100-yard game of the season in a win over Atlanta. His other, 122 yards against Cincinnati, in a 27-3 win over the Bengals. He’s only faced the Steelers twice in his career and they’ve done a pretty good job on him, 27 rushes for 107 yards and a touchdown and the Titans lost both games.
That doesn’t mean it will be easy Thursday.
“They play off the exploits of Derrick Henry,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. “Man, we've got to do a really good job of working to minimize him, but that's just a component of it. Their play action passing game, their misdirection passing game, all those things feed off his talents. You'd better do a really good job of bottling him up at the line of scrimmage. You can't let him get to the second and third level clean. If he does, he is a real problem.”
“Smashing the run is always something, no matter who we are playing, offenses are always trying to establish the run,” said Steelers linebacker TJ Watt. “It’s no different this week with a very capable offense and obviously 22 running the ball really well.”
“He’s one of the best backs in the league,” said Steelers linebacker Alex Highsmith, noting they haven’t been as good as they’ve wanted to be stopping the run. “It starts there. It starts with him and stopping the run.”
Steelers are 23rd in the league in rushing yards allowed, 26th in yards-per-rush allowed. It’s not the first time they’ve faced a back that’s elite in yards after contact. They’ve already played the top-Christian McCaffrey and second-best Travis Etienne. They combined for 231 rushing yards and 318 total yards against the Steelers.
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“It’s something that has to be done,” said Steelers safety Miles Killebrew.
“We have to stop the run. Their run goes through him. Got to be violent and attack him, that’s it.”
He’s known for his size, 6’3”, 247 pounds, but he’s more than that. His strength, free hand and the ability to stiff arm.
“He breaks a lot of tackles,” Watt said. “He hits the hole hard. He has the breakaway speed. Everyone talks about the stiff arm, but the other stuff of the speed, agility and being able to be patient and hit the hole. He is an elite back for sure.”
Steelers do likely have defensive lineman Cam Heyward back, they are a much better rushing defense with him in the game. Watt calls him a difference-maker that has played in this matchup a few times. Plugging in a player like him is a big deal, according to Watt.
They won’t have Minkah Fitzpatrick, who had 42 tackles in his last four full games. It means a bigger role for Keanu Neal, but that’s why they liked him as a free agent as well. Neal had seven solo tackles against the Jaguars and is known as a run-stuffing safety.
“Gang tackle, everyone to the ball at the end of the day,” said safety Damontae Kazee. “It’s not just one person tackling, it’s everyone tackling. We get in that position when it’s one-on-one, you just got to bring him down. It may look ugly, but you have to bring him down.”
The key comes back to number 50. Roberts only played 50 snaps combined the last two games, he might get that number alone tonight. Even with limited time Neal and Roberts are fourth and fifth on the Steelers in solo tackles. They must bring that game in a pivotal game against Tennessee.
“I think anytime we play big people teams and running teams, you see Elandon Roberts on the field a lot more than when we’re playing spread teams,” said Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin. “It’s his type of game. He’s a thumper. He loves it. It’s good for us. I love the energy he brings. You may see a lot of E out there this week.”
Maybe he can bring a spark that Robert Spillane brought two years ago against Henry. They’ll need it.