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It was another boring Sunday without our beloved Pittsburgh Steelers taking the field. Although the black and gold had already taken the first loss of Week 14 when they traveled to Minnesota to play the Vikings on Thursday Night Football, the outcome of each game seemingly had a direct correlation to how the Steelers season could potentially end. The AFC playoff race is neck and neck as of now, with a handful of teams fighting for a potential Wild Card spot and even with the loss, the Steelers find themselves right in the thick of things with a record of 6-6-1.
The Steelers will hope to go into this last month of football with a full bill of health, more so on the defensive side of the football. This defense has been without some key starters throughout this season on both the defensive front and the secondary. Starting cornerback Joe Haden has been ruled out of each game since the tie against the Detroit Lions in Week 10 with a nagging foot injury that the Steelers hope he can recover from in time for a game that carries playoff implications at Heinz Field this Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.
During his absence, defensive coordinator Keith Butler has struggled to find a fill-in for the time being. Obviously, when Haden returns, he will be slotted right back into the starter cornerback slot, alongside his counterpart Cam Sutton, and the Steelers were hoping to use this unfortunate situation to find someone in the secondary group who could step up when their name was called.
A name that didn’t get much attention was Ahkello Witherspoon. Witherspoon was traded by the Seattle Seahawks a couple of days before the 2021 season began for a Steelers fifth round pick and has not seen much of the field since. He was a 3rd round pick back in 2017 by the San Francisco 49ers where he played 4 seasons and made 33 starts. The Steelers were bringing in a 6 foot 2 cornerback with 4 years experience already under his belt. I think many expected Witherspoon to make a somewhat of an immediate impact on the field, especially at a position that was lacking so much depth. Instead, he struggled to find the field throughout the first 9 games of the season, which I think much was due to his lack of understanding of the defensive playbook, having only been traded just days before the season began.
It wasn’t until these past 2 weeks where we have been able to see what he could potentially be for this football team, and I have not been disappointed. He has started the last 2 games and has been seemingly all over the field in both of them. He kind of came out of nowhere and made his first start as a Steelers against the Baltimore Ravens and did his part in helping that defense hold Lamar Jackson and that offense to just 19 points. Then followed that up with this past week’s start in which he had 4 tackles and came away with 2 HUGE interceptions that allowed for a 4th quarter comeback. Witherspoon has taken this opportunity and run with it so far, which is something I’m sure this coaching staff loves to see.
Yes, I know it has only just been 2 games with Witherspoon on the field where we’ve seen promise, but you can’t deny that he has made an impact. Just his size alone (6’2″, 175 lbs) is something that can intimidate a quarterback into not throwing his direction and so far when tested, has stepped up. I’m not saying you hand him over the keys to the starting spot already, but he definitely has shown that he deserves to be on the field. If anything, he is adding depth to a much needed position and is hopefully giving this team a solid 3rd weapon at the cornerback position.
Do you think Witherspoon has deserved to see the field more during this last stretch of the season? Comment below!
#SteelerNation
Support SteelerNation by clicking here to read the story..
The Steelers will hope to go into this last month of football with a full bill of health, more so on the defensive side of the football. This defense has been without some key starters throughout this season on both the defensive front and the secondary. Starting cornerback Joe Haden has been ruled out of each game since the tie against the Detroit Lions in Week 10 with a nagging foot injury that the Steelers hope he can recover from in time for a game that carries playoff implications at Heinz Field this Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.
During his absence, defensive coordinator Keith Butler has struggled to find a fill-in for the time being. Obviously, when Haden returns, he will be slotted right back into the starter cornerback slot, alongside his counterpart Cam Sutton, and the Steelers were hoping to use this unfortunate situation to find someone in the secondary group who could step up when their name was called.
A name that didn’t get much attention was Ahkello Witherspoon. Witherspoon was traded by the Seattle Seahawks a couple of days before the 2021 season began for a Steelers fifth round pick and has not seen much of the field since. He was a 3rd round pick back in 2017 by the San Francisco 49ers where he played 4 seasons and made 33 starts. The Steelers were bringing in a 6 foot 2 cornerback with 4 years experience already under his belt. I think many expected Witherspoon to make a somewhat of an immediate impact on the field, especially at a position that was lacking so much depth. Instead, he struggled to find the field throughout the first 9 games of the season, which I think much was due to his lack of understanding of the defensive playbook, having only been traded just days before the season began.
It wasn’t until these past 2 weeks where we have been able to see what he could potentially be for this football team, and I have not been disappointed. He has started the last 2 games and has been seemingly all over the field in both of them. He kind of came out of nowhere and made his first start as a Steelers against the Baltimore Ravens and did his part in helping that defense hold Lamar Jackson and that offense to just 19 points. Then followed that up with this past week’s start in which he had 4 tackles and came away with 2 HUGE interceptions that allowed for a 4th quarter comeback. Witherspoon has taken this opportunity and run with it so far, which is something I’m sure this coaching staff loves to see.
Yes, I know it has only just been 2 games with Witherspoon on the field where we’ve seen promise, but you can’t deny that he has made an impact. Just his size alone (6’2″, 175 lbs) is something that can intimidate a quarterback into not throwing his direction and so far when tested, has stepped up. I’m not saying you hand him over the keys to the starting spot already, but he definitely has shown that he deserves to be on the field. If anything, he is adding depth to a much needed position and is hopefully giving this team a solid 3rd weapon at the cornerback position.
Do you think Witherspoon has deserved to see the field more during this last stretch of the season? Comment below!
#SteelerNation
Support SteelerNation by clicking here to read the story..
