Steelers lose more than just the game, following a concerning string of injuries that only make things worse in Pittsburgh
Things have gone from bad to worse in Pittsburgh.
There are members of every NFL team who don’t receive enough credit. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, three of those players were injured on Sunday night: OL Isaac Seumalo, DL Daniel Ekuale, and safety DeShon Elliott.
Ekuale was the first of the three ruled out with a knee injury, before Seumalo couldn’t return with his pectoral injury, and Elliott was ruled out almost immediately with an awful-looking knee injury. Mike Tomlin updated the status of each player after the game.
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“From a health standpoint, man, it looks like we got a couple of significant ones,” said Mike Tomlin after the game. “Daniel [Ekuale] got a significant knee injury. DeShon Elliott’s got a knee injury as well. Isaac Seumalo has got a pec strain, and so it’s what comes with playing. Obviously, we’ll assess those, and I’ll have a better update for you the next time we come together.”
Ekuale is a key depth piece that helps against the run as a rotational interior player. But the loss of Seumalo and Elliott is a different level of severity. The Steelers’ offense declined in pass protection and in the run game without its starting left guard.
That’s because Spencer Anderson becomes the starting left guard. And if he’s starting, then the Steelers can’t run their jumbo package with a sixth offensive lineman because Anderson is now the fifth lineman.
On the defensive side, almost immediately after Elliott was lost, the defensive communication took a hit. The tackling was already suspect, and it didn’t look any better on Sunday night, but it somehow got worse, and Tucker Kraft only improved without Elliott on the field.
So, it’s two in a row that the Steelers have dropped, and all of a sudden, what looked like a division that was Pittsburgh’s to lose could become a competition down the stretch.
The Baltimore Ravens beat the Chicago Bears on Sunday, and that was without Lamar Jackson. He’s slated to return this week against the Miami Dolphins. Now, a Steelers team that should have been 5-1 is 4-3 and holding onto its division lead by a thread.
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