{"id":834092,"date":"2018-07-30T10:48:20","date_gmt":"2018-07-30T14:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?p=834092"},"modified":"2018-08-12T09:09:06","modified_gmt":"2018-08-12T13:09:06","slug":"steelers-number-one-preseason-concern-inside-linebacker-rross11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/steelers-number-one-preseason-concern-inside-linebacker-rross11\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers’ Number One Preseason Concern: Inside Linebacker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prior to the injury Ryan Shazier sustained during the 1st<\/sup> quarter of a game against the Cincinnati Bengals on December 4, 2017, the Steelers\u2019 defense was giving up only 96 yards rushing per game. And in nine of those first 11 games, they gave less than 100 yards on the ground (82% of their games).\u00a0 From the injury day on, their defense gave up a whopping 133.5 yards rushing per game and kept only one team below the 100 yard-mark.\u00a0 In other words, opponents managed to rush for less than 100 yards about 17% of the time. Fact is, you can even make a strong argument that losing Shazier harmed their pass defense, given his speed and ability to cover, as the team surrendered approximately 24 more yards per game passing after the injury.\u00a0 However, one could argue that cornerback Joe Haden\u2019s injury served as a portion for the reason for that statistic as well.<\/p>\n

Either way, with Shazier out for this season, the Mack Inside Linebacker is the number one concern heading into the 2018 season. \u00a0The guys they are hoping can fill the void are Tyler Matakevich and\/or Jon Bostic.<\/p>\n

We never saw what former Temple standout Matakevich could do as a starter at the position, as he went down with a shoulder injury in the same Bengals game that Shazier did.\u00a0 He left after achieving a season high seven tackles, though several came downfield after significant yards were produced.\u00a0 That said, here\u2019s what we know about him.<\/p>\n

First, Matakevich managed 493 career tackles while at Temple.\u00a0 He was productive enough to garner All-American accolades at a small-time Division 1 football school, which is impressive. He\u2019s simply known as a tough run-stopper, and his strong play on special teams would seem to reinforce that he\u2019s a smart, lunch pail kind of guy.\u00a0 Really, if we break it down, the problem with Matakevich is kind of simple.<\/p>\n

At the Combine he ran the 40 yard dash in 4.81 seconds.\u00a0 When you compare that to Shazier\u2019s 4.38 time, the issue is evident.<\/p>\n

Can Matakevich\u2019s gutsy, lunch pail attitude still land him in the right spot at the right time when playing the run given his speed deficiency?\u00a0 Also, can he cover NFL running backs and\/or tight ends with that kind of speed?<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s Jon Bostic.\u00a0 First, he accrued some real NFL starting experience with the Colts last season, as he was in on 97 tackles on the year.\u00a0 Next, his speed is much better than Matakevich\u2019s, but not as good as Shazier\u2019s, as he posted a time of 4.59 in the 40 yard dash.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re talking about a solid, though perhaps unspectacular player to date.\u00a0 And there is an injury history.<\/p>\n

In the end, it appears that the Pittsburgh Steelers are clearly not completely sold on either guy. \u00a0According to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette<\/a>, GM Kevin Colbert recently said \u201cThere are guys available (at inside linebacker) and who knows?\u00a0 Maybe over training camp we won\u2019t be happy, but maybe we will. Let\u2019s look at these guys first.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, ESPN\u2019s Jeremy Fowler<\/a>, indicated that Matakevich held the position down in OTA\u2019s and showed the instincts that had made him a standout at Temple.\u00a0 Does that mean he will continue to hold the position down?\u00a0 Not necessarily.\u00a0 The bottom line is that Matakevich does not have the speed to do some of the things the team would like him to be able to do on pass defense, so if they go with him as the Mack starter then utilizing safeties or Bostic will be the key on obvious passing downs.\u00a0 But expect Matakevich to keep the starting position for now.\u00a0 There was a reason that he was able to be as successful as he was in college, and it\u2019s time to see if when healthy he can do some of what made him special for the Owls in the professional ranks.<\/p>\n

Keep watching as this story unfolds.\u00a0 The Steelers season will be significantly impacted by it.\u00a0 And come back later this week to find out what the Steelers number two training camp\/preseason concern is<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prior to the injury Ryan Shazier sustained during the 1st quarter of a game against the Cincinnati Bengals on December…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":834095,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[703638416,644287676,1],"tags":[7894235,645642568,645642566,645642567,41801077,31155133],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSteelers' Number One Preseason Concern: Inside Linebacker - The Sports Daily<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/steelers-number-one-preseason-concern-inside-linebacker-rross11\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Steelers’ Number One Preseason Concern: Inside Linebacker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/steelers-number-one-preseason-concern-inside-linebacker-rross11\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Sports Daily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-30T14:48:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-08-12T13:09:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tyler-matakevich-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alan Draper\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sportsdailytsd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sportsdailytsd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alan Draper\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/steelers-number-one-preseason-concern-inside-linebacker-rross11\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/steelers-number-one-preseason-concern-inside-linebacker-rross11\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alan Draper\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2c8aadde2571800d0de74323730df7b5\"},\"headline\":\"Steelers’ Number One Preseason Concern: Inside Linebacker\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-30T14:48:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-08-12T13:09:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/steelers-number-one-preseason-concern-inside-linebacker-rross11\/\"},\"wordCount\":692,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/steelers-number-one-preseason-concern-inside-linebacker-rross11\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tyler-matakevich-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Jon Bostic\",\"steelers concerns\",\"steelers inside linebacker\",\"steelers mack inside linebacker\",\"steelers preseason\",\"tyler matakevich\"],\"articleSection\":[\"NFL News and Rumors\",\"Steelers\",\"Updates\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2018\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/steelers-number-one-preseason-concern-inside-linebacker-rross11\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/steelers-number-one-preseason-concern-inside-linebacker-rross11\/\",\"name\":\"Steelers' Number One Preseason Concern: Inside Linebacker - 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