Mike Tomlin already has ruled out Kenny Pickett from playing Thursday night against New England, and he is preparing to press on without the player he calls the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback on defense.
On Monday, Tomlin said inside linebacker Elandon Roberts is “definitively” questionable to play when the Steelers take the field at Acrisure Stadium for the second time in five days.
Roberts sustained a groin injury in the first half of the Steelers’ 24-10 loss against the Arizona Cardinals. After initially injuring his groin, he tried to return but left for good after the second snap.
Without Roberts calling the defensive signals in the middle of the Steelers defense, Tomlin said communication breakdowns contributed to the Cardinals converting five third downs on a 99-yard touchdown drive late in the half.
The Steelers never recovered from the 10-3 deficit.
“We had adjustment planned to cover at the half,” Tomlin said Monday. “That sequence occurred prior to the half, and we were not as in sync from an adjustment standpoint as we would like. We were limited from a communication and schematic standpoint, and we felt that.”
Mykal Walker, the other starting inside linebacker, had a team-high 10 sacks in just his third game with the Steelers. He was signed after injuries began depleting the position, first to Cole Holcomb and then to Kwon Alexander, who each are out for the season.
Second-year linebacker Mark Robinson had seven tackles after Roberts was injured. Robinson didn’t play a defensive snap the previous two games and was bypassed by Walker on the depth chart. But without Roberts to plug the gaps, the Cardinals gained 103 of their 150 rushing yards after halftime.
In recent weeks, the Steelers added Blake Martinez to the 53-man roster and brought back Myles Jack to the practice squad. Martinez was a healthy scratch Sunday after joining the Steelers a week earlier. Jack could be elevated to the active roster for the Patriots’ game.
Martinez and Jack each briefly retired before signing contracts with the Steelers.
“When you look at the pool of people available to us and where we were, we value NFL experience even if that experience was not in a training camp or they had limited work in that area,” Tomlin said. “We didn’t want to wait for the next domino to fall before we acquired those guys. We did that a couple of weeks back hopeful that we would have more time, but you don’t always get what you want.”
And so it is that when the Steelers face the Patriots, Robinson likely will be the only inside linebacker available who was with the team when the season began.
“Coach Tomlin always says that you give a capable man information, and he runs with it,” outside linebacker Alex Highsmith said. “Whoever is in there, we are going to provide them with everything they need. Those guys are going to prepare well and come out and play. It’s going to be important to know we’re going to have capable guys step up and make plays.”