The Pittsburgh Steelers faced another significant blow to their linebacker unit as Kwon Alexander suffered a season-ending torn Achilles during their 23-19 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, according to a source close to the situation, as reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Alexander’s Achilles injury occurred in the first quarter and appeared to be a noncontact incident. After the game, Coach Mike Tomlin acknowledged the severity, stating, “Kwon Alexander has a serious lower-body injury. He’s being evaluated but not promising there.”
This isn’t the first time Alexander has encountered a season-ending Achilles injury. He previously tore his Achilles tendon on Christmas Day in 2020 while playing for the New Orleans Saints. Despite the significant setback, Alexander displayed resilience and received the Ed Block Courage Award from the Saints the following season. Notably, he started the team’s regular-season opener just nine months after the injury. It remains unclear whether this recent injury is to the same Achilles tendon.
Alexander played a crucial role for the Steelers, wearing the green dot on his helmet, signifying the player responsible for communicating with the sideline. He took over this role from fellow inside linebacker Cole Holcomb, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against the Tennessee Titans a week earlier.
The Steelers acquired Alexander during training camp, and he quickly became a key figure in the team’s revamped linebacker corps. In the recent 20-16 win over the Titans, Alexander secured the game-sealing interception against rookie quarterback Will Levis in the end zone. For the season, he accumulated 41 combined tackles, five tackles for loss, one forced fumble, and the aforementioned interception.
Now, with both Holcomb and Alexander sidelined, second-year linebacker Mark Robinson received his first extended opportunity to showcase his skills alongside Elandon Roberts. Roberts, dealing with a knee injury throughout the week, assumed a more significant role in communication on the field.
After Alexander’s injury, Roberts took over the on-field communication responsibilities. Tomlin spoke highly of Roberts, saying, “Elandon has been here the whole time, and he’s been a quality contributor the whole time, so I’m not going to pretend like he did something today that he hasn’t been doing. He’s a quality veteran player, he’s a really good communicator. He takes the run game personally. Those are the reasons why we acquired him in free agency, and he’s consistently provided that.”
Robinson, receiving his first extensive playing time this season, played a career-high 40 defensive snaps and recorded two tackles against the Packers. This opportunity came after he saw minimal defensive action, playing only four snaps against the Las Vegas Raiders earlier in the season.
Roberts praised Robinson’s performance, stating, “Mark went out there, he did his job, he did his job well. And now we’re fixing to go look at film and see what both of us and the defense can get better at going into this stretch.” As the Steelers navigate through these linebacker injuries, adjustments will be crucial to maintaining defensive strength for the remainder of the season.