The Steelers got a big win on Monday night, but they also suffered a lot of losses.Starting guard Kendall Simmons tore an Achilles tendon. First-round pick and defacto starting tailback Rashard Mendenhall broke his shoulder. Both are headed to the injured reserve and will miss the rest of the season. This is the latest malady for Simmons who missed a season with a torn ACL early in his career and had to adjust to playing with diabetes a couple of years ago. Mendenhall broke his shoulder on a particularly hard (but fair) hit from linebacker Ray Lewis.
The Steelers will likely replace Simmons with either Trai Essex or Darnell Stapleton, although the way to get the best five on the field would be to move Willie Colon inside to guard while Max Starks slides into the right tackle spot.
The situation at running back is going to be more dire in the short term. Starting tailback Willie Parker is probably still a week or two away from returning with a knee sprain, while No. 3 tailback/starting fullback Carey Davis has an ankle injury and will likely miss at least a week or two. The Steelers will assuredly add Gary Russell back to the active roster this week and he'll see serious playing time on Sunday as Mewelde Moore's backup this week.
As bad as it sounds to start a fourth-string tailback, we saw on Monday night how Moore is pretty useful. He's too small to effectively pass block, but he has averaged 4.8 yards per carry over his five-year career and he's very nifty coming out of the backfield catching passes. And Russell is a reasonably useful power back who could fill the short-yardage role this week and get 5-10 carries to spell Moore.
There was good news for the Steelers. Andre Frazier was carted off with a scary looking spinal injury on the first play of the game, but the AP reported that he was walking around the locker room after the game.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
I believe we have seen the last of Simmons in a Steelers uniform. With deteriorating play and a growing list of health issues, this will be it. No matter who they plug in, I think the line will be better, and now is the time to see who can really play and who needs to go. From owner on down, personnel decisions on both lines have been suspect-what happens now will greatly decide the fate of the season, not to mention the health of their $100 million QB.
Dave,,yep..I couldn't agree more. JJ has chronicled the decline in Simmons' play with his excellent break downs of O-line play the last few years.I think he lost the strength needed to play the position with his diabetes diagnosis. He's really a nimble guy on his feet.but he gets steamrollered by the increasingly massive nature of the average NFL line. I remember D.DAwson saying he was ready to retire when he saw how big the kids were getting coming out of college. The writing was on the wall.
I don't like Starks much but I agree with JJ that he should be playing RT. The Steelers move at a glacial, 1950`s pace at times with regard to personal decisions and will stick with people LONG after they have proven they aren't capable of handling the job, IMO. That is going to have to change because this O-line is going to need constant tweaking now to keep it running. Like an old Edsel!
Agree: Starks needs to start and I would want to see if Colon can play RG. I hate to see anyone get hurt but I have had enough of Simmons average play.
With the o-line in dissarray and thin at RB, look for a spread offense to play to our strengths (at least the ones we have left). Short drops, quick passes, passing to the RB out of the backfield, and draw plays. We actually have good personnel for this approach with our TE's, WR's, and Moore at RB. Furthermore, I especially like the approach against the Jags who seem to have no problem stuffing our running game the last couple years.
Why don't we throw more to Willie out of the backfield anyway?