The Pittsburgh Steelers’ facility is beginning to look more like an infirmary than a football headquarters. The number of injuries that the team is dealing with is going up by the day as they could be very short-handed for their game this weekend against the Buffalo Bills.
Already without star pass rusher T.J. Watt, who injured his pec in Week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals, it sounds as if their defense could be missing their other star player, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick suffered a concussion leading up to the team’s Week 4 matchup with the New York Jets. He was cleared in time to get on the field, but he did not come out of it unscathed. The All-Pro safety was named on the list of injured players that head coach Mike Tomlin shared earlier this week as he is dealing with a knee injury.
Tomlin described the injury as something that will need to be managed going forward. Whether that means that he will be missing some practices throughout the week to ensure that he will be able to play on Sunday or that he will have his role scaled back during the game is anyone’s guess.
Fitzpatrick has been on the field for all but one defensive play for the Steelers this season. He missed a single snap against the Jets after playing in 100 percent of the snaps in the first three games of the season.
If he is unable to play or is compromised in any way, Pittsburgh’s defense is going to suffer greatly as they would be without their two best players going up against one of the best offenses in the NFL. In four games, Fitzpatrick has already racked up 32 combined tackles with three interceptions and four passes defended.
In addition to Fitzpatrick, defensive end Cam Heyward and cornerback Cam Sutton are two more defensive starters that are falling into the category of players who need to be managed. Heyward is dealing with elbow and back ailments while Sutton has groin and hamstring issues.
The team is already going to be without cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon for another week as he continues to heal from a hamstring injury. Fitzpatrick’s partner at safety, Terrell Edmunds, is also in concussion protocol this week.
