Ailing backfield among injury concerns for Steelers this week
This week for the Pittsburgh Steelers, their gameday inactive list will consist almost entirely of the walking wounded, including at the running back position, which has averaged over 150 yards on the ground in its last two efforts.
The primary facilitator of the ground game resurgence has been third year man Jonathan Dwyer, who made his first two career starts in the last two weeks.
He spent much of his first two seasons on the inactive list, buried on the depth chart behind starter Rashard Mendenhall, backup Isaac Redman, and third down back Mewelde Moore.
With Mendenhall and Redman nursing injuries, and Moore long gone via free agency, the offense turned to Dwyer, who had his first career 100 yard game in week 5 last season spelling Redman when Mendenhall was out with an injury.
He added two more of those in the past two weeks as the starter, rushing for 122 and 107 yards while averaging over 5 yards per carry. But he suffered a quad injury late in last week’s victory over the Washington Redskins and is listed as doubtful for Sunday.
In fact, Mendenhall is also listed as doubtful, and neither are expected to play. Redman is continuing to work his way back from a high ankle sprain, and insists that he will not be 100% this season, but he is listed as probable and is expected to get the starting nod.
Redman started the first three games while Mendenhall continued to recover from a torn ACL, but had limited success as the new offense under Todd Haley attempted to find its identity and Redman nursed multiple injuries suffered in the preseason.
On the season, he has managed just 127 yards on 50 carries for 2.5 yards per attempt. He was averaging over 4.5 yards per attempt for his career coming into this season.
While the offensive line has managed to find its groove while he has recovered from injury, the question remains how effective he can be. Behind him are two first year players that are more geared toward finesse than power in Baron Batch and Chris Rainey.
Also on the injury report, All-Pro safety Troy Polamalu remains out. He has missed all but 5 quarters of play thus far this season and is not expected to return imminently. Right tackle Marcus Gilbert is also expected to be out for a few more weeks.
While Mike Adams, a 2012 second round pick out of Ohio State, has been able to fill in admirably over the last two games for Gilbert, it has been more of a mixed bag replacing Polamalu.
Adams, who was drafted with the presumption that he would eventually take over the left tackle position from veteran Max Starks, showed some growing pains throughout the preseason, but has held up well for the most part in-game during the season.
Gilbert went down early in the week 6 loss to the Tennessee Titans, and Adams was forced to come in cold off the bench. He gave up one sack and one pressure in pass protection and did well in run blocking.
In the past two games as the starter, Adams has only gotten more comfortable. He has twice thrown key blocks on big runs by Chris Rainey, one going for an 11-yard touchdown and the other a 19-yard run that set up first and goal.
He and the rest of the line also allowed Dwyer to become the first Steelers running back since Willie Parker in early 2008 to record back to back 100 yard performances, and Roethlisberger was not sacked in the last game.
On the other hand, Polamalu’s replacements have not been quite so plug-and-play. Ryan Mundy got the first crack as the job, but after multiple poor performances, defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau went with Will Allen, who had not had a start with the Steelers in the previous two seasons.
Allen has done better, but it is impossible to replace an All-Pro player. Ryan Clark, the other starting Pro Bowl safety on the team, was forced to exit last week’s game late with a concussion, forcing both Allen and Mundy into critical positions.
However, Clark has passed his concussion test and is listed as probable and expected to resume his starting role alongside Allen. Backup linebacker Stevenson Sylvester, however, joins Polamalu and Gilbert as out.
Joining Clark and Redman as probable are starting outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley, reserve running back Baron Batch, and reserve linebacker Brandon Johnson. Having Woodley on the field will be critical as the Steelers try to get pressure on Giants quarterback Eli Manning, who has only been sacked 6 times in 8 games thus far.
