Tim Benz: Steelers injuries are a concern. Not an excuse. Just ask some of their AFC rivals.
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During his weekly press conference on Tuesday, expect Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin to be asked about the state of his team’s injury-depleted roster.
You should expect an answer similar to this.
“Such is life in the National Football League. Attrition through injury is inescapable in every NFL locker room. We must have a next-man-up mentality. No one is going to be sitting around feeling sorry for us. I have to concern myself with the men who are available, while those who are not available concern themselves with getting healthy and returning to play.”
Maybe the sentences won’t be arranged in that exact order. But how many times has Tomlin used each and every one of them to dismiss any narratives from fans or media members who try to tamp down the struggles of his team based on injuries?
Tomlin has been singing that same song with nearly identical lyrics every Tuesday for about 15 years now. My guess is that he will again this week.
He will be right to do so. I just hope we all listen to him.
And I hope he listens to himself.
His players, assistant coaches and front office management better have their ears open, too. Because if Tomlin does deliver a message similar to that one, he’ll be speaking the truth.
Whether he intends for those quotes to be meaningful or just empty platitudes.
Because for as much as the Steelers may have felt that they were drowning in the depths of their own injury report en route to their home-opening defeat, Tomlin and his team were still swimming in roughly the same waters as their opponent.
Not to mention one of their chief rivals in their own division.
Indeed, starting that game Sunday at Heinz Field without Joe Haden, Stephon Tuitt, Devin Bush, Zach Banner, Anthony McFarland and Carlos Davis was a significant blow to the team’s depth chart.
Losing T.J. Watt and Tyson Alualu in the first half made matters much worse. Then, Diontae Johnson’s knee injury on a meaningless final play was a game-ending gut punch.
You won’t see me diminishing the X’s-and-O’s impact of losing all those players.
But the Las Vegas Raiders played without Pro Bowl running back Josh Jacobs and former Pro Bowl guard Richie Incognito. Starting right guard Denzelle Good, backup quarterback Marcus Mariota and defensive tackle Gerald McCoy were lost for the season during the Week 1 opener against the Baltimore Ravens. Linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski and backup safety Roderic Teamer were also inactive Sunday.
So, Jon Gruden’s team wasn’t exactly healthy either. Also remember that they were flying cross-country for a 1 p.m. EST start on a short week after playing a physical overtime game against Baltimore.
Speaking of the Ravens, no team has been hit harder by injuries than them. Cornerback Chris Westry became the team’s 15th player placed on injured reserve (an NFL high) on Friday.
Former All-Pro Ronnie Stanley (OT) is injured again. Jimmy Smith (CB), Derek Wolfe (DL), Daelin Hayes (OLB) and Broderick Washington (DE) joined him on the inactive list Sunday night against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Yet the Ravens managed to beat the two-time defending AFC champions 36-35.
Accordingly, onlookers in Pittsburgh can use injuries as an explanation as to why the Steelers lost to the Raiders. However, they can’t be used as an excuse.
Those that try to do so next weekend should have their argument rejected even more decisively if the Steelers drop a second straight game to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Joe Burrow and company appeared to make some strides in their season-opening win against the Minnesota Vikings. Unfortunately for them, Sunday’s 20-17 loss in Chicago saw significant regression as Burrow was intercepted three times and Joe Mixon went from 127 yards rushing to 69.
What the Steelers injury report has done is highlight significant flaws with the team that were covered up by the surprising Week 1 victory in Buffalo.
For as much praise as we gave the defense’s pass rush for its role in that win, it should’ve generated more than one sack after Watt left in the second quarter against a tattered group of blockers from Vegas.
Haden’s injury exposed how thin the cornerback position can get. The defensive line can perhaps get by without Stephon Tuitt. Although subtracting Alualu and Davis is a different matter.
No one thought Joe Schobert was going to be the 2021 version of acquiring Minkah Fitzpatrick. So far, though, he’s not close to being the player Steelers fans thought the team was getting from Jacksonville. He’s looked more like a second version of Robert Spillane than a second version of Bush at inside linebacker — despite fan and media hype to the contrary.
Whatever Banner provides as a run-blocking presence at tackle, neither Dan Moore Jr. nor Chuks Okorafor have been able to replicate. James Washington is great to have as a fourth wide receiver, but he doesn’t have the athleticism or run-after-the-catch ability that Johnson does. So, an already struggling offense better hope initial reports that Johnson’s knee injury isn’t serious are accurate.
To Tomlin’s credit, he usually steers away from blaming failure on injuries. I expect he’ll do the same this week. But now it’s up to him and his assistants to coach around the reality that such problems have created early in 2021.
After all, “such is life in the National Football League.”