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Brooke Pryor, ESPN Staff Writer
PITTSBURGH — The Steelers lost another starting inside linebacker for the season Sunday when Kwon Alexander suffered a torn Achilles in Pittsburgh’s 23-19 victory over the Packers, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Alexander sustained the tear in the first quarter on what appeared to be a noncontact injury.
“Kwon Alexander has a serious lower-body injury,” coach Mike Tomlin said after the game. “He’s being evaluated but not promising there.”
Alexander previously tore an Achilles tendon on Christmas Day 2020 when he was playing for the New Orleans Saints. He was honored with the Ed Block Courage Award by the Saints the following season when he started the team’s regular season-opener just nine months after the injury. It’s unclear if this injury was to the same tendon.
Alexander was wearing the green dot (indicating the player who communicates with the sideline) after taking the job over from fellow inside linebacker Cole Holcomb, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against the Tennessee Titans a week earlier.
Alexander signed with the Steelers during training camp and has been a mainstay in the revamped linebacker corps. In Pittsburgh’s 20-16 win over the Titans, Alexander had the game-sealing interception against rookie quarterback Will Levis in the end zone. On the season, Alexander has 41 combined tackles and five tackles for loss, along with one forced fumble and the interception.
With both Holcomb and Alexander out, second-year linebacker Mark Robinson received his first extended look this season alongside Elandon Roberts, who was limited in practice throughout the week with a knee injury.
When Alexander went down, Roberts took over the on-field communication. Roberts, who also was a free agency addition, played 62 snaps against the Packers, 22 more than his previous high for the season against the Houston Texans.
“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,” Tomlin said. “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 played a career-high 40 defensive snaps and recorded two tackles. He saw defensive action only one other time this season, playing four snaps against the Las Vegas Raiders.
“Mark went out there, he did his job, he did his job well,” Roberts said. “And now we 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.”
Source: www.espn.com