Tag Archives: Steelers injuries

Frustrated by Devin Bush in 2021? Chill & Remember ACL Tears Are Complicated to Comeback from

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Question: Entering the Chargers game, which injures have hurt the 2021 Pittsburgh Steelers the most? There’s no definitive answer, but this blogger offers an unorthodox suggestion:

  • The injuries in question have probably never shown up on the Steelers weekly injury reports.

Injuries, as the late, great Washington DC area sports radio journalist Ken Beatrice reminded listeners, are just as much of a factor as talent and coaching. This was true for the NFL during the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s and is even more true today.

  • Where in 2021 have injuries hit the Steelers the hardest?

The Steelers certainly missed Ben Roethlisberger against the Lions and Justin Herbert will force them to miss Minkah Fitzpatrick just as dearly tomorrow. And anyone who has seen the Steelers run defense lapse could and should point to the absence of Stephon Tuitt and Tyson Alualu.

So if those are your answers, you’re in good company, just as is anyone who brings up T.J. Watt’s name. But my two choices are Devin Bush and Zach Banner.

Devin Bush, Devin Bush touchdown, Steelers vs Chargers

Devin Bush dives for a touchdown. Photo Credit: Karl Rosner, Steelers.com

Banner and Bush don’t share a lot in common, but both men suffered ACL tears during the 2020 season.

  • Zach Banner played in training camp and preseason, but had to be put on IR.

The Steelers failure to use him on Sundays has drawn frustrated “Whys” as Dan Moore and Chukwuma Okorafor have had their struggles. Devin Bush has of course played all season, but he hasn’t been the same. This has led even level-minded reporters to go as far as to question the Steelers decision to trade up to get him.

The frustration with Banner and Bush is understandable, but perhaps misguided.

ACL Tears Remain Serious Injuries in 2021

Once upon a time, an ACL tear could spell doom for a professional football player. Anterior cruciate ligament sent the legendary Gale Sayers career on the path to ruin. Fortunately, with the rise of arthroscopic surgery, and improvements in rehabilitation therapy, ACL tears stopped being an immediate threat to a player’s career.

In fact, Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Famer Rod Woodson was the first NFL player to tear his ACL in a season, only to return later that year.

Rod Woodson, Michael Irvin, Steelers vs Cowboys, Super Bowl XXX

Rod Woodson beats Michael Irvin in Super Bowl XXX. Photo Credit: @Sports Pics, via Behind the Steel Curtain

Woodson tore his ACL in the 1995 Steelers season opener, but returned to play 12 snaps in Super Bowl XXX. Woodson’s pass defense of Michael Irvin is one of Steelers Nation’s legitimate bragging points from otherwise disappointing loss.

  • In that sense, perhaps Steelers fans got a little spoiled.

Not only because Woodson’s feat remains rather unique, but because it came with a cost. As Woodson confessed to Jim Wexell in Men of Steel, returning for the Super Bowl was “‘not the smartest thing to do'” continuing he adds, “‘I was probably 45-50 percent healthy at that point.'”

Woodson of course returned for the Steelers 1996 season and in the home opener he returned Vinny Testaverde’s first pass 43 yards for a pick six. Woodson made the Pro Bowl in 1996.

  • So of course he was fully recovered, right?

Wrong. Woodson confided this to Wexell, “’In ’96, I was still sore, and then my Achilles started acting up a lot, just from compensating for my knee….’” Woodson left the Steelers after 1996, but went on to play in 7 more years, making 4 Pro Bowls and one All Pro Team will appearing in two more Super Bowls.

  • So surly he was fully recovered by time he left Pittsburgh, right?

Wrong again. While admitting to struggling a bit in San Francisco, Woodson explained, “’I was still trying to recover from the knee a bit, even that second year.’”

And while players like Casey Hampton and Heath Miller returned for a productive seasons after suffering ACL tears late in the 2011 and 2012 campaigns, it is easy to forget just how fortunate they were. Shaun Suisham suffered an ACL tear during the 2015 Hall of Fame game that ended his career.

Are Bush and Banners ACL Tears Lingering On?

It is hard to really say how much impact Zach Banner’s absence has had on the offensive line. He won the starting job in 2020, only to tear his ACL in the season opening win over the Giants. Which is to say, he’s largely an unknown commodity.

  • With Devin Bush, it’s a little different.

Bush had a strong, if not fantastic rookie year in 2019 and was playing well early in 2020. So far in 2021 he’s been a non-factor. Is it because he’s still not fully recovered from his ACL tear? It is hard to know for sure.

Some film analysis of the Lions game suggests he was badly out of place on some of those critical runs the Lions used to gouge the Steelers defense. That was only one play, however, and Bush was far from the only person on the Steelers defense out of position (see Joe Schobert and Cam Sutton.)

  • While medicine is a science it remains an inexact science.

People’s bodies heal differently and at distinct paces. Modern medicine has done a lot to make ACL tears more manageable for NFL players, but if something seems not quite right with Devin Bush, just remember that even in 2021 anterior cruciate ligament injuries anything but trivial.

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Achilles Heel? Jesse James Healthy but Steelers Could be in Tight Spot @ Tight End

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Ah, gotta watch those June Achilles tears. On the Jesse James return to practice following his injury in Pittsburgh’s preseason win over Tennessee, but tight end could be a tight spot for the Steelers this season, and if it is it will have all started with a June Achilles injury.

Jesse James, Steelers 2018 tight ends

Jesse James after catching a high Ben Roethlisberger pass vs. Titans. Photo credit: Yahoo! Sports

Pittsburgh’s problems at the position of began during spring practice, when reserve tight end Jake McGee torn his Achilles tendon during OTAs. The Steelers had carried McGee on their practice squad during 2018 and coaches expected McGee to push Xavier Grimble for a roster spot.

The Steelers situation at tight end grew more complicated arrived at St. Vincents when Vance McDonald injured his foot after after only one day of practice. Vance McDonald has not practiced since that fateful day in July, although Mike Tomlin has publicly listed McDonald as “Day-to-day.”

The Steelers of course acquired McDonald last season in a trade, only to see him sit on the sidelines injured, although he rebounded for strong game in the playoff loss to the Jaguars.

That left Xavier Grimble and Jesse James, but Grimble injured his wrist/thumb on a blocking sled on August 18th and had to have surgery. Grimble has been characterized as “Week-to-week.” If McDonald’s absence is any guide, perhaps month-to-month would be for fitting for Grimble.

Let’s hope that not the case, but as good Reimagined Battlestar Galactica fans know, “All this has happened before and [hopefully] will [not] again.”

June Misfortunes Can Set the Tone for an Entire Season

The advent of the digital age has magnified everything. Trivial, bit-sized bites of Steelers news that once would have merited 2-3 inches of newspaper column wedged in somewhere deep in the back pages of the Pittsburgh Press or Post-Gazette now serve as feature-length click generating stories (sometimes for good reason, sometimes not.)

  • In that spirit, news from OTAs and minicamp often gets taken too seriously.
  • But sometimes what events from June can end up dictating the entire narrative of the season.

Take the case of Willie Colon. In 2010 Willie Colon, the Steelers starting right tackle, tore his Achilles tendon in late June. This came after Steelers 5th round draft pick Chris Scott had already broken his leg. Those two injuries initiated a torrent of offensive line injuries that lasted the entire year.

During the Steelers 2010 win over Tampa Bay, the Steelers were force to substitute so many offensive lineman that Mike Tomlin remarked jokingly (or perhaps not so jokingly) that coaches didn’t even know who was in and who was out of the game.

The Steelers lost Max Starks in week 7 against Cincinnati, and in the next week against New England, Ben Roethlisberger suffered 5 sacks as the Patriots collapsed the Steelers offensive line at will. Roethlisberger’s sack rate nearly doubled with Jonathan Scott starting at left tackle.

  • Offensive line injuries continued literally through to the taild end of the season.

After the Steelers playoff win against the Ravens, Ben Roethlisberger lauded Flozell Adams for wanting to come off of a gurney to return to the game, and Pittsburgh of course was forced to start Doug Legursky at center in Super Bowl XLV due to injuries to Maurkice Pouncey.

Will the same thing happen to the 2018 Steelers at tight end? Hopefully not, but with less than two weeks to go before the regular season, tight end appears to be the Steelers Achilles heel.

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Better for Le’Veon Bell to have Surgery Now Rather than Later

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Everyone was kind of shocked when Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell saw limited action in the AFC Championship loss to the Patriots due to a groin injury.

However, the more shocking news came about afterwards, when Le’Veon Bell, himself, admitted during Super Bowl week that he actually suffered the injury in the wild card victory over the Dolphins on January 8.

But maybe even more shocking, still, was Le’Veon Bell’s revelation during a Super Bowl week interview that his groin injury was so severe that he had to seek two medical opinions–one advised surgery; the other advised rest.

Le'Veon Bell, Steelers vs. Chiefs, Steelers Chiefs playoffs, Le'Veon Bell surgery, Steelers playoff rushing record, Le'Veon Bell Steelers playoff game rushing record

Le’Veon Bell rushing in his record breaking playoff performance against the Chiefs. Photo Credit: Kyle Rivas, UPI

Given the choice, most people in Le’Veon Bell’s situation (whether they be professional athletes or ordinary citizens) would probably much rather rest than go under the knife.  It’s easy to forget that surgery, even something that seems non-life-threatening such as a groin repair, is a scary thing to face.

  • Maybe that’s why, sitting around in early-February, Le’Veon Bell may have been leaning towards the rest and rehab prescription.

If you’re a fan of the team, on the other hand, you may have feared Bell putting off the surgery all off season, only to be forced to have the procedure during the regular season and miss a significant amount of time.

After all, something similar happened to James Harrison in 2012. Deebo came into training camp with a nagging knee injury and waited until August to go under the knifey, delaying his start to 2012. And just this last year something similar happened with Bud Dupree. Dupree had a similar injury to Bell’s waited to have surgery, and Bud Dupree starting 2016 on injured reserve because of it.

  • So, would Le’Veon Bell continue to take the wait and see approach, or would he decide that surgery was the best option?

The answer came on March 13, when it was announced that Bell underwent surgery to repair his groin injury and is now in the post-procedure recovery phase of things.

If you ask me, Le’Veon Bell did the right thing by seeking multiple opinions for his injured groin. After all, it’s his life, and if surgery can be avoided, it’s perhaps always best to do so.

However, if there were any doubts as to the rest and rehab process, Le’Veon Bell also did the right thing by having the procedure done in mid-March, thus giving himself plenty of time to rest, recover, rehab and prepare for the 2017 campaign.

In-terms of his financial future in the NFL, 2017 figures to be a huge year for Le’Veon Bell. Pittsburgh slapped the franchise tag on Bell in late-February, which will guarantee the mega-star running back $12 million next season, once he actually gets around to signing (nothing hints at him not sending the tender, at this point).

But even though Bell is guaranteed a huge payday in 2017, he obviously wants an even bigger one, either before the start of the regular season or after it. In other words, Le’Veon Bell is looking for the usual long-term contract and financial security players of his status often seek on the open market.

Of course, that money doesn’t have to come from the open market, if the Steelers and Bell reach an agreement on a long-term deal some time in the very near future.

  • And maybe that’s why Le’Veon Bell elected to eliminate all doubt and just go ahead and have the procedure.

In addition to missing a total of five games due to drug-related suspensions, Le’Veon Bell has also missed eight regular season games, one playoff game, a significant portion of another playoff game and an entire postseason due to injuries since Pittsburgh selected him in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft.

“Injury prone” is something no player (even a superstar) wants to be labeled as. And when you factor in the off-field issues, it would be easy to see the Steelers seeking other running back options, rather than committing so much money to Le’Veon Bell.

But now that Bell has gone ahead with the surgery–and he’s done so roughly six months before the start of the regular season–there is really nothing stopping him from being 100 percent healthy and ready to go.

Oh, by the way, 2017 figures to be a big year for the Steelers, as well. Coming off an ugly exit in the AFC Championship game, the expectations are going to be through the roof with regards to reaching and winning Super Bowl LII.

Without Le’Veon Bell, who, when healthy carries an overwhelming load in Pittsburgh’s offense, those expectations would be tempered significantly, regardless of whether Martavis Bryant returns to give Ben Roethlisberger another superstar receiver opposite Antonio Brown.

  • Sure, surgery doesn’t guarantee anything, and if he were to run into post-procedure complications, Bell wouldn’t be the first player.

But, in this case, it’s better for all parties involved that Le’Veon Bell elected to be proactive.

His immediate future, and that of the Steelers, depends on it.

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Pittsburgh Steelers Activate Bud Dupree, Cameron Heyward to Injured Reserve

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Is the Pittsburgh Steelers pass rush about to pick up an octane boost? That might be too much to expect, but the Steelers have activated Bud Dupree ahead of their road game vs. the Cleveland Browns. To make room for Bud Dupree, the Steelers placed Cameron Heyward on injured reserve.

Bud Dupree’s rookie season got off to a strong start sacking Tom Brady, Colin Kaepernick and Philip Rivers in his first five games. Dupree also downed Andy Dalton midway though the 2015 season, but then hit the infamous rookie wall.

Bud Dupree, steelers activate bud dupree, bud dupree sacks colin kapernick

Bud Dupree sacks Colin Kapernick in the Steelers 2015 win over the 49ers. Photo Credit: Gene J. Puskar

Bud Dupree has spent all of 2016 on the injured reserve list due to a sports hernia, and the Steelers pass rush has suffered in his absence. Cam Heyward leads the Steelers in sacks with three, and he has missed two games and played injured in the Steelers loss to the Cowboys. After that, the Steelers sack “leaders” are rookie Anthony Chickillo, Vince Williams and James Harrison.

The headline “Steelers activate Bud Dupree” shouldn’t signal a panacea for Pittsburgh’s pathetic pass rush, but at the very least it provides hope that Dupree can compensate for the loss of Heyward.

Is 5 the Magic Number for Steelers Defensive Line?

With Cameron Heyward lost for the season, the Steelers decision to replace him with Bud Dupree doesn’t amount to much of a surprise, but it does leave Pittsburgh without much defensive line depth. With behind Stephon Tuitt, Javon Hargrave and Ricardo Mathews, the Steelers have Daniel McCullers and L.T. Walton.

The Steelers normally carry 5 active defensive lineman on game day, although they also have also have Caushaud Lyons and Johnny Maxey on their practice squad.

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As Cameron Heyward’s Season Ends – Steelers Nation Collectively Cries: “Game Over!”

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The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the middle of what is already their 2nd worst losing streak of the Mike Tomlin era, and the news just got worse. Pro Bowl defensive end Cameron Heyward’s season ends thanks to a pectorial muscle injury he suffered in the loss to the Cowboys.

The Steelers haven’t announced the move yet, but Cameron Heyward made this posting via Twitter and Instagram:

One can only imagine that Mike Tomlin, Keith Butler and defensive line coach John Mitchell must be channeling their inner Bill Paxton:

In truth don’t expect anyone on the South Side to throw in the Towel, but the Pittsburgh Steelers are 0-4 when either Cameron Heyward or Stephon Tuitt has missed a game over the last two seasons. Cameron Heyward is easily both the Steelers best and most consistent player on the Steelers defense. He is also a leader both on and off the field. Losing Cam Heyward for the rest of 2016 would be akin to losing Antonio Brown, Le’Veon Bell or perhaps even Ben Roethlisberger.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Ron Cook broke the news on Twitter this morning before Mike Tomlin’s press conference.

Heyward was still being evaluated when Mike Tomlin addressed reporters, so no update came, but the Steelers have confirmed the news.

Mathews and Hargrave Next Men Up

With Cam Heyward out for the rest of 2016, the Steelers will likely turn to Ricardo Mathews and or Javon Hargrave to take his space. Hargrave has been splitting time at nose tackle with Daniel McCullers, but he has gotten reps at defensive end. Mathews started with Heyward missed the Dolphins and Patriots game with a hamstring injury, and the Dolphins targeted him in route to their 200 yard rushing game.

  • The Steelers also have Johnny Maxey and Caushaud Lyons on their practice squad, either of whom could be activated.

The Steelers picked up Caushaud Lyons last year off waivers and kept him on the active roster through the end of September. The Steelers then cut Lyons and resigned him to the practice squad. Regardless of who the Steelers bring onto the roster, the man has extremely big shoes to fill.

Johnson Out Forte Back In

It never rains but it pours. Before losing Cameron Heyward the rest of 2016, the Steelers annouced that reserve inside linebacker Steven Johnson going on injured reserve. To replace him the Steelers will active L.J. Forte, whom they cut this weekend to make way for Ladarius Green.

 

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Safety Mike Mitchell Heads a Long Steelers Off Season Surgery List

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The Pittsburgh Steelers 2015 season only ended days ago, but the Steelers off season surgery list is already a long one. Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin addressed the media for the final time and confirmed that several Steelers are already schecduled to under go surgery.

Steelers starting free safety Michael Mitchell, whose shoulder has been ailing for weeks, will undergo shoulder surgery, as will punter Jordan Berry, who injured his shoulder in the Steelers playoff loss to the Broncos. Ryan Shazier and Matt Spaeth will have knee surgery, while David DeCastro and Marcus Gilbert will have their ankles operated on.

Mike Tomlin also indicated that Maurkice Pouncey, Le’Veon Bell, Senquez Golson, Shaun Suisham and Mike Adams – all of whom spent the entire 2015 season on the Steelers injured reserve list, are progressing well and should be able to participate in training camp. Tomlin also confirmed that Cortez Allen, Kelvin Beachum and Roosevelt Nix, who went on IR during the regular season, were also recovering according to schedule.

Interestingly enough, the name of Bruce Gradkowski has not surfaced yet along with other Steelers on the mend, which could be an oversight on an ominous sign for the backup quarterback’s future, or lack there of in Pittsburgh.

Could Allen and Suisham Become Salary Cap Casualties?

While this is good news for the players in question, some of them may not be back with the Steelers, even if they do recovery fully.

According to the site Over the Cap, the Pittsburgh Steelers are about 9.2 million dollars under the NFL’s projected salary cap for 2016. While the term “Steelers under the cap” hasn’t been heard in Pittsburgh very often since the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement was reached, the Steelers have the 6th least cap space of any NFL team.

  • The Steelers do not have a lot of veterans that they can cut to gain easy salary cap space.

However, cutting Shaun Suisham after June 1st could shave the Steelers 2.4 million dollars in salary cap space. Likewise, cutting Cortez Allen after June 1st could give the Steelers an extra 4.4 million dollars in salary cap space. Offensive tackle Mike Adams could also have already played his last game for the Steelers, although cutting Adams would not impact the Steelers salary cap much.

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