The first of 10 games the Pittsburgh Steelers will play without Stephon Tuitt featured an outside-the-box way of filling his spot in defensive subpackages.
Linebacker Vince Williams was used as a de facto defensive lineman in some pass-rushing situations in the Steelers’ 27-14 victory against the Miami Dolphins. Cameron Heyward was the only true defensive lineman on the field in that formation.
Williams had four tackles and two quarterback hits while playing 34 of 60 snaps. Rookie Devin Bush played every snap at inside linebacker, and Mark Barron was on the field for 40 defensive plays.
“That’s probably indicative of how we move forward,” coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday. “When you talk about replacing a guy like Stephon, it’s not only a multi-person job, it’s also probably a multi-positional job. I thought we did a good job of establishing a baseline of what that looks like moving forward.”
When healthy, Williams is a capable pass rusher. He is two years removed from recording a career-high eight sacks.
Tyson Alualu replaced Tuitt, who is on injured reserve with a torn pec muscle, in the base defense, playing alongside nose tackle Javon Hargrave and Heyward. Rookie Isaiah Buggs saw his first game activity, playing 13 snaps as part of the defensive line rotation. Dan McCullers played just three snaps.
Heyward played 85 percent of the defensive snaps against the Dolphins, and Tomlin will monitor that workload over the next nine weeks.
“Hopefully guys evolve,” he said. “Maybe it’s just the beginning for a guy like Isaiah Buggs. L.T. Walton, we just re-acquired. He got off the couch. Maybe he’s in more condition to play a more viable option for us. As we go and guys grow and show their capabilities, we’ll adjust accordingly. It may or may not mean more snaps for Cam Heyward.”
Walton, signed after Tuitt’s injury, was inactivate against Miami.
