I had a realization looking at the Steelers’ extended injury list in advance of Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Ben Roethlisberger’s iffy health status (pectoral injury) isn’t the chief concern.

There was a time when the slightest whiff of an injury to Roethlisberger would send this city into a tizzy. Now I feel like most fans have a greater interest in the recoveries of two or three other Steelers before they even get to the starting quarterback.

You know what? They should.

That’s not entirely a commentary on Roethlisberger. Rather, it’s more of a damning statement on the offense. It appears so broken that having a future Hall of Fame quarterback at the helm or not likely won’t make much of a difference.

Whereas this week, specifically, getting T.J. Watt, Joe Haden and Alex Highsmith on the field at close to 100% after sufferin groin injuries could swing the results toward the Steelers’ side as opposed to losing a second consecutive game at Heinz Field.

That’s the way it looks to me anyway.

After all, Roethlisberger can’t help the run blocking for Najee Harris. He can’t help Harris run once he gets the ball in his hands. He can’t run the proper routes and catch his own passes. And he can’t pass block for himself.

Whether Roethlisberger, Mason Rudolph or Dwyane Haskins is at quarterback, all those significant problems facing the offense will remain.

In terms of Roethlisberger’s influence, it’s been diluted to the point where stepping down to one of the backups seems to have far less of an impact than what we thought when the seven-time Pro Bowler was subtracted from the lineup for the last 14 games of 2019.

Roethlisberger doesn’t keep plays alive by eluding and fending off the rush as he did five to 10 years ago. No one in the NFL gets rid of the ball faster. Most of his throws last week were well under 10 yards. And even when the offense looked capable in the second half against Buffalo, it yielded just one touchdown and needed a blocked punt by the special teams to be the game-deciding play.

Coordinator Matt Canada’s offense has only three touchdowns in two games. It is 28th in the NFL in total yards (583), total offensive plays (111) and average time of possession (26:10). At only 20 points per game and just 6.7 yards gained per pass attempt, it is 24th in the NFL in both of those categories.

Can it get much worse? Canada says those numbers relating to total points scored and staying on the field are the biggest concern.

“We have to be on the field more,” Canada said Thursday. “Our number of plays has been too low the last two weeks. Is third down (conversion rate) part of that? Is running the ball part of that? There are a lot of different things you can look at. We have to be better.”

Of course, the answer to whether it can get worse is, “Yes, it can.” If Rudolph or Haskins is better, then one of them would be starting. Or the Steelers wouldn’t have made the effort to rework Roethlisberger’s contract to keep him for an 18th season.

Also, Roethlisberger is at least valuing the football. He’s only thrown one interception in 72 attempts.

So the goal here isn’t to say, “It doesn’t matter if Big Ben starts!” The goal here is to emphasize that the Steelers aren’t going to win because of their offense. Thus, monitoring the health of some of their defensive stars feels much more important to me.

Specifically, Watt. And perhaps to an even greater extent, Haden.

If Watt, Highsmith and Melvin Ingram are healthy enough to play close to top form, the Steelers are capable of wrecking the game with their pass rush. That’s essentially what happened in Buffalo in Week 1, and the Bills’ offensive line is better than Cincinnati’s. Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has already absorbed 16 hits, including 10 sacks, through two games.

Plus, with Burrow and receiver Ja’Marr Chase recently carping about wanting to throw more deep shots, that could give the Steelers’ pass rush an extra half-second to do damage.

“If they are going to try to throw deep on us, then our pass rushers really have to heat up,” defensive captain Cameron Heyward said. “It’s hard for a quarterback to step up when he has pressure in his lap.”

With or without Watt, on plays where the collective pass rush can’t get home, Haden should prove vital. The Bengals boast three talented receivers in Tyler Boyd, Tee Higgins and Chase.

Who Haden guards sets the rest of the secondary. Maybe he checks Boyd and his knack for big possession catches and chain-moving first-down attempts. Or Haden tries to tie up Higgins’ all-around ability or Chase’s downfield speed that has already produced two touchdowns in excess of 40 yards.

Without Haden, it would likely be up to Cameron Sutton to draw whoever is deemed the toughest assignment and then some combination of reserve corners James Pierre, Justin Layne (who is also battling injury) and Ahkello Witherspoon to handle the other options.

That didn’t work out great in Haden’s absence last week against the Las Vegas Raiders when the Steelers spent a lot of practice time and manpower scheming to stop Darren Waller. The tight end had just one grab for 8 yards in the first half and five catches for 65 yards by the game’s end. But quarterback Derek Carr still managed 23 completions, 317 yards and two touchdowns to other receivers on the afternoon.

Now, if Higgins’ banged-up shoulder allows him to suit up, defensive coordinator Keith Butler’s unit has to worry about stopping three targets capable of being No. 1 pass catchers.

“There are a lot of unknowns for us,” Butler said. “I don’t know the answer right now with who we are going to have on the field. Is that going to change with who we have on the field? Probably could.

“We’ll have to wait until Sunday to see how we are going to play, who we’ve got, how we are going to use them.”

Haden and Watt have been at least partial participants so far this week. Highsmith hasn’t been able to participate.

To Canada’s point, if the offense does a better job of staying on the field, that’ll alleviate stress on the defense. But I’ll take my chances with a healthy (as possible) Steelers defense against Cincinnati and just hope for the best with Rudolph, Haskins or a partially healed Roethlisberger leading the offense.

Even though its “best” may not be very good at all.

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