Pittsburgh Steelers: How the James Harrison Injury Affects the Defense
By Thomas Hanlon (Contributor) on October 4, 2011 18
Now everybody knows why James Harrison wasn't on the field late in Sunday's loss to the Houston Texans, he has a broken orbital bone. This is an injury that is going to keep the meanest player in the National Football League out for probably close to several weeks. The only upside I can see to this is that it will allow his back to fully heal from offseason surgery and we could get a very near 100 percent James Harrison back in time to make a playoff push.
However, with a main cog in the Steelers 3-4 defense out for over a month, it's causing a shuffling of that defense. Normally, Jason Worilds would step into Harrison's right outside linebacker position, but he is doubtful with a quad strain. So instead, inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons will slide outside with Larry Foote coming in to start at the right inside linebacker spot.
This has been what I felt the Steelers likely might do when James Harrison either retires or gets cut later in his career. They originally drafted Timmons to play that OLB position because Harrison had never been a regular starter in his career, but he was a super sub. Timmons was insurance in case Harrison wasn't starter material, and when Harrison turned out to be an absolute beast, they put Timmons in next to James Farrior at inside linebacker.
(Read More:) http://bleacherreport.com/articles/878436-pittsburgh-steelers-how-the-james-harrison-injury-affects-the-defense
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