Steelers’ offense just got thrown a curveball after latest injury update regarding wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr.
The Pittsburgh Steelers host the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday without Michael Pittman Jr., who is expected to miss multiple weeks with a foot injury. That puts a major spotlight on who fills the Z receiver role.
Well, it looks like the revenge game Michael Pittman Jr. was hoping for against the Indianapolis Colts is no longer on the menu. The Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver suffered a setback with his foot, and Pittsburgh now has to figure out its passing game without him for the foreseeable future.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter posted on X that Steelers coach Mike McCarthy said wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. reinjured his foot and now is expected to miss multiple weeks.
Michael Pittman Jr. facts
- Seven catches through the first part of the season.
- Plays the Z receiver role in the Steelers’ offense
- Faces his former team, the Colts, on Sunday
The Steelers saw this one coming
The truth is, this didn’t come completely out of nowhere. When the Steelers returned to practice Wednesday, Mark Kaboly posted on X that Pittman:
“Came through the open media portion of the locker room twice on a single-leg scooter with his left foot slash ankle with no sock slash shoe on. The Steelers host Pittman’s former team on Sunday. He later had a boot on that left ankle slash foot.”
The injury appears to be a re-aggravation of what has been described as plantar fasciitis, a painful foot condition.
In reality, the foot issue probably explains a lot about why Pittman just hasn’t been a factor for Pittsburgh. He has only seven catches, and if you go back and watch the tape from Thursday night against the Cleveland Browns, he created zero separation. And I mean zero. He clearly hasn’t been at 100%.
So the immediate question becomes, how many weeks will he miss? Will the Steelers place him on injured reserve? And the bigger question is, who steps up in his absence?
Why Germie Bernard should get the call in Pittsburgh
I believe the answer is rookie wide receiver Germie Bernard.
He hasn’t had a ton of targets or a ton of opportunities, but he has made the most of the ones he’s received. As we’ve broken down his film, it’s clear this guy has nuance to his route running. He’s extremely tough over the middle of the field, and he gets yards after the catch.
He does everything you need a Z receiver to do, and the Z is exactly the role Pittman plays in this offense, so the fit is about as clean as you’ll find on the current roster.
I understand that quarterback Aaron Rodgers isn’t usually the most open to having rookies out there. He likes veterans. He likes guys with seasoning who have been there and done that.
But Rodgers doesn’t really have a choice at this point. We’ve also already seen drives where he fed Bernard the ball, throwing to him four times in one game. That tells me the trust is building, even if it hasn’t shown up in a big way on the stat sheet yet.
What this means for Sunday and beyond
Pittsburgh now heads into a home matchup with Indianapolis without the receiver who had the most motivation to show up in this one. That stings from a storyline perspective, but from a football perspective, the drop-off may not be as steep as it looks on paper.
Pittman struggled to separate and struggled to help the Steelers move the football. Bernard, meanwhile, has shown flashes of exactly what this offense needs from that spot.
The Pittman injury hurts, and nobody wants to see a veteran lose multiple weeks. But the way I see it, the Steelers have the man who can get the job done in Germie Bernard. Now it’s on McCarthy and Rodgers to give him the chance to prove it.
