Steelers Four Downs: Don’t ever call Robert Spillane slow; can Avery Williamson cover?

1. Quick ‘Mick’

While Robert Spillane has become quite a story for the Pittsburgh Steelers this season in going from undrafted journeyman special-teamer to starting inside linebacker for the league’s lone unbeaten team, among the criticisms of Spillane is that he’s not fast enough to sustain a high level of play in the NFL.

Tell that to those who watched last week’s Steelers win at the Baltimore Ravens. What they saw was Spillane reach a top speed of 19.1 mph on his first-quarter interception return for a touchdown, according to the NFL Next Gen Stats.

Dubbed “Mick” by coach Mike Tomlin (an ode to famed crime novelist Mickey Spillane), Spillane’s run after picking off Lamar Jackson was faster than any play by any Steelers receiver, running back or punt/kick returner in that game. Almost unbelievably, it was also roughly just as fast as any run by the lightning-quick Jackson. Next Gen Stats reports that the fastest Jackson moved during the game was 19.19 mph.

For perspective, the fastest any Steelers player has run with the ball this season is punt returner Ray-Ray McCloud, who was clocked at 20.29 mph during the Oct. 24 win at Tennessee.

PICK-6!

Robert Spillane to the house for the @Steelers!

?: #PITvsBAL on CBS
?: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/VpbDsNEjOj pic.twitter.com/OJV3oZ55eJ

— NFL (@NFL) November 1, 2020

2. Throw at Mick

In equal-time fairness to an evaluation of Spillane’s play, the metrics of his play in pass coverage mined by Pro Football Focus are not very kind.

Opponents are clearly looking to potential pass-catchers who are being covered Spillane. Only one of 83 qualifying interior linebackers in the NFL (Green Bay’s Krys Barnes) has a higher rate of coverage snaps per target than Spillane (4.3). Spillane also ranks 70^th in coverage snaps per reception (7.2).

As basis of comparison, the player Spillane replaced at inside linebacker, Devin Bush, was allowing receptions (14.0) and was being targeted (8.0) at rates that were close to twice as much better. The 14 coverage snaps per reception was among the top 10 in the league for (non-edge) linebackers before Bush’s torn ACL ended his season.

Robert Spillane did an admirable job in his first game as a #Steelers starting inside linebacker. https://t.co/DXrCuwXnRt

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) October 26, 2020

3. He really an upgrade?

Let’s keep with the theme of inside linebackers in coverage. What might be alarming to Steelers fans is that the player the team traded for to support inside linebacker corps, Avery Williamson, has not necessarily fared well in such usage.

Per PFF, no interior linebacker in the NFL has allowed more receptions (37), more receiving yards (404) or more receiving yards per coverage snap (2.30) than Williamson. Just one has allowed more yards after the catch (262) and only eight have allowed more touchdowns (two) than Williamson has in coverage. Quarterbacks have a 116.2 passer rating when throwing to a player Williamson is covering, according to PFF.

Williamson ranks just one spot below Spillane in coverage snaps per target (4.5, fourth-most among 83 qualifying non-edge linebackers in the league), and Williamson ranks second-to-last in coverage snaps per reception (4.8).

Interestingly, per PFF only one pass by an opposing quarterback to a man Williamson has had in coverage this season has been an incompletion: 39 have been thrown, 37 have been complete and Williamson intercepted one.

Robert Spillane on the Steelers acquisition of the man likely meant to replace him, Avery Williamson pic.twitter.com/IhO9DxX57G

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) November 6, 2020

4. Keeping ‘off’

Next Gen Stats had an interesting nugget about the Steelers’ pass defense: only three teams in the NFL utilize “off” coverage more. More than two-thirds of the time (67%) on detached routes by opposing receivers this season, the Steelers have given those receivers at least five yards of “cushion” at the snap. Only the Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers have done that more often.

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