Pittsburgh Steelers need Kion Wilson to step-up toinght

The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered a huge loss on defense last week when longtime starting inside linebacker Larry Foote was lost for the season with a torn biceps muscle. It wasn’t necessarily a big loss in terms of Foote’ level of play, but the dropoff between him and the next man up in Kion Wilson, who will be a starting ILB toonight against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Wilson, who was out of football last season, takes over for the injured Foote at strongside ILB. He’ll be going from a full-time special-teamer to a starter in charge of relaying defensive calls from the sideline to the huddle, according to Steelers Linebackers coach Keith Butler:

"“We’ll be OK,” Butler said, “because we’ve got enough veteran guys that have done it before.”“Kion’s made some plays and he’s an aggressive guy,” Butler said. “He can run, he’s quick, and we want to take a good look at him and see what happens. We still like Vince Williams too so both of them are probably going to end up playing.”"

The most recent Steelers depth char has Wilson ahead of Florida State rookie Vince Williams at one ILB spot, while Lawrence Timmons sits ahead of Terrence Garvin at the other ILB spot.