Other teams feel pain of injuries, too
Plenty of sports teams lean on the cliche of “next man up,” but with the Steelers starting their fourthstring preseason quarterback in what likely was a must-win game last week, they were essentially down to the last man up.
Indeed, it has been a season of injuries for the Steelers, one that continued this week when defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt had surgery for a pectoral tear that ended his 2019 campaign. But just how unfortunate has it been from a health standpoint compared to the rest of the NFL? Let’s dive into some of the data.
Last week, the Steelers had six players with an injury designation —
“questionable” or “out” — on the final practice report ahead of the game against the Los Angeles Chargers and two on injured reserve. That number is now three, all of whom — Tuitt, Ben Roethlisberger and Sean Davis — opened the season as starters. A fourth, Lavon Hooks, was waived with a season-ending injury in August and went unclaimed, meaning he technically reverted to injured reserve for the Steelers, who no longer list him on their official roster.
In terms of quantity, only one team — Detroit — has fewer players on injured reserve than the Steelers, with three. But in terms of quality, only five other teams have as many or more starters out with long-term injuries.
Those teams are the Chargers, New England Patriots and Washington Redskins with four apiece, plus the Atlanta Falcons and New York Jets with three starters sidelined. None of those teams have lost their starting quarterback for the season, though, and two of the most prominent Patriots on injured reserve are kicker Stephen Gostkowski and fullback James Develin, hardly full-time players.
That’s what makes the Steelers injury situation as brutal as any in the league. Davis might yet return from his torn labrum, and if he does, he isn’t likely to be a starter ahead of Minkah Fitzpatrick, but Roethlisberger and Tuitt are as significant a duo as any team has lost in 2019. And Roethlisberger himself is almost undoubtedly the single most impactful injury in the league this season.
The Redskins have a whopping 14 players on injured reserve or the physically unable to perform list, but several of those were unlikely to make the team. The four starters include running back Derrius Guice, who missed all last season, and tight end Jordan Reed, whose injury issues are nothing new.
If anyone has had it as bad as the Steelers, you could argue it’s the the team they just beat. The Chargers are expected to activate left tackle Russell Okung from the nonfootball illness list after he missed the first six games with a pulmonary embolism. But they also just placed No. 3 wide receiver Travis Benjamin on injured reserve, where he joins starting safeties Derwin James and Adrian Phillips, as well as starting center Mike Pouncey.
The Jets, meanwhile, can at least match the Steelers as far as setbacks at quarterback. Sam Darnold started Week 1 but then missed the next three games with mononucleosis, and, while he was out, his replacement, Trevor Siemian, tore ligaments in his left ankle.
But for the Steelers, Roethlisberger isn’t coming back. In New Orleans, Drew Brees is. In Carolina, Cam Newton is expected to return. Last year, it was San Francisco that had it worse than anyone at quarterback, with Jimmy Garoppolo tearing his ACL in Week 3, then backup C.J. Beathard hurting his wrist after five starts.
Now, the 49ers are one of six teams without any starters on injured reserve, along with the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs. So, you could say they’ve caught the most breaks through the early part of the season, but three of those six already have had their off weeks, which is just one fewer game for key players to go down.
A year ago, the Steelers were one of the lucky ones. According to FootballOutsiders.com’s “Adjusted Games Lost” metric, which calculates the cost of injuries for each team, the Steelers were the fifth-healthiest with 40.4 AGL, behind the Baltimore Ravens, Bills, Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams. In 2017, the Steelers were even better, ranking fourth behind the Rams, Falcons and Tennessee Titans with 30.5 AGL.
And yet, the injury bug can bite any team at any time.
Already this season, the Steelers have had 11 players combine to account for 26 full games missed due to injuries. The Cleveland Browns led the league in that category through five weeks with 30, per ManGamesLost.com, which counts the true number of games lost and also adjusts for quality. But with Tuitt out for the rest of the season, unless they can heal during the off week, the Steelers might not be far behind, quantifiably or anecdotally.