Steelers News: With Benny Snell seeing extensive time in Week 6, did he do enough to impress?

The Pittsburgh Steelers are moving into Week 7 of the NFL regular season, and as the team prepares to rest and recover during their bye week we continue to provide you with features, commentary and opinions to tide you over until the next game starts!

Today in the black-and-gold links article we take a look at whether rookie running back Benny Snell did enough to impress in his time on the field in Week 6.

Let’s get to the news:

• Benny Snell Football, as he calls it, took center stage at times during the Steelers’ Week 6 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday Night Football. Did he impress enough in his time on the field?

Benny Snell impresses Steelers in 1st extensive action

By: Chris Adamski, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Benny Snell was an accomplished and decorated college running back at Kentucky. But before last week, it was fair to question his NFL bona fides.

Snell’s performance against the Los Angeles Chargers seemingly have put any such concerns to rest as far as the Pittsburgh Steelers are concerned.

In his first extensive action as a running back in an NFL regular season game, Snell had 17 carries for 75 yards and added one catch for 14 yards (he had another 17-yard reception called back by penalty); he did his part to help close out a Steelers’ 24-17 victory.

“I’m not surprised of that performance,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “Sometimes it’s just a man and an opportunity. And we have seen signs of that. We have talked openly here about his level of production on special teams and that being an indicator of offensive or defensive readiness in a lot of instances with young guys. But we’re not surprised he was able at all.”

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• How good is Devin Bush? He is as advertised, and only going to get better.

Rookie linebacker Devin Bush good as advertised for Steelers defense

By: Chris Adamski, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

As the midway point of his rookie season approaches, Devin Bush is on pace to accumulate more takeaways for the Pittsburgh Steelers than every player on the unit combined last season.

That’s the type of production that is worth trading up into the top 10 of the first round for. And it’s the type of player who was needed to fix what had been a broken defense in regard to creating turnovers as the Steelers head into their bye week.

“When you scout a guy and you say, ‘Wow, I think this guy can be really good,’ ” inside linebackers coach Jerry Olsavsky said, “(and) he’s everything we expected.”

Bush hasn’t been perfect, but six games into his career, he has definitely provided a splash to a defense that sorely needed it. Bush has six takeaways — four fumble recoveries and two interceptions. The former leads the league, the latter is tied for the most by a Steelers player over the past two seasons.

Bush has been involved in six of the Steelers’ 14 takeaways, leaving him on pace for 16. Last season, the Steelers had 15. Through six games last season, they had five.

Some of it might appear as just luck. While there is a degree of truth to that, Bush also has a combination of innate instincts and raw athleticism that manifest themselves in ending up at the right place at the right time.

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• Mike Tomlin will have to be creative when it comes to dealing with life without Stephon Tuitt.

Mike Tomlin may look outside the box to replace Stephon Tuitt on defensive line

By: Joe Rutter, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Replacing Stephon Tuitt on the defensive line won’t be tasked to one player, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin acknowledged Wednesday.

The collaborative effort might even extend into another position group.

“There will be a lot of guys, not only in the D-line room, but maybe also in the outside linebacker room,” Tomlin said.

Tuitt, who had 3.5 sacks and six tackles for loss, lasted only five snaps Sunday night against the Los Angeles Chargers before tearing a pectoral muscle that will require season-ending surgery. He was placed on the reserve/injured list Tuesday.

Veteran Tyson Alualu, a former first-round pick, will get the first crack at taking Tuitt’s spot in the base 3-4 defense. Alualu and nose tackle Javon Hargrave will rotate in with defensive tackle Cameron Heyward in subpackages when the Steelers keep two down linemen on the field.

Among outside linebackers, Bud Dupree has the biggest size among his position group at 265 pounds. Anthony Chickillo played on the defensive line in college at Miami, but he has dropped almost 30 pounds to be an edge rusher for the Steelers.

In his sixth NFL season, Tuitt was having a breakout year when he was injured and a reason why the Steelers are ranked second in the league with 20 sacks.

“We’ve got to acknowledge Stephon was playing really good football as it pertains to the rush,” Tomlin said. “The rush has been the catalyst for a lot of positive things for us. We have to keep it hot and whatever that entails in utilization of people and combination of people, we are willing to do.”

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