Steelers short in secondary

PITTSBURGH — Joe Haden’s career revival in Pittsburgh is on hold, though maybe for not as long as the first-place Steelers feared.

While the veteran cornerback’s broken left leg will keep him out for Thursday night’s visit by Tennessee, the team remains hopeful Haden can return at some point in the season. Pittsburgh eyes a run at a second straight division title and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.

“It could be less than it might be, or could be more than we think,” coach Mike Tomlin said Monday. “The reality says he is not playing this week. We will leave him available to us in the short term until we get a better sense of what the prognosis is. Obviously, if there is a chance for him to participate with our team this year, we’ll leave that ligh on.”

Haden left in the first quarter of a 20-17 victory over the Colts. He briefly tried to run on the sideline before being taken to the locker room and spending the second half watching on crutches from the sideline while Pittsburgh (7-2) rallied for a fourth straight victory.

Coty Sensabaugh will get the first crack at replacing Haden. The Steelers signed Sensabaugh in the spring, but his chance to become the starting cornerback ended with the Browns released Haden near the end of training camp and he signed a three-year deal with Pittsburgh a day later.

Sensabaugh finished with three tackles against the Colts and broke up a pass down the sideline intended for T.Y. Hilton in the fourth quarter.

“Coty came out and did his thing,” safety Sean Davis said.

So did safety Robert Golden, who filled in after Mike Mitchell left with an ankle injury following a collision with teammate Mike Hilton. Given just three days to prepare for Tennessee (6-3), it’s doubtful Mitchell will participate in any walk-throughs before Thursday night.

Sensabaugh doesn’t have Haden’s athleticism, but compensates by taking a more cerebral approach.

“He studies the playbook a lot and studies the opponent tremendously,” said Steelers rookie wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who has faced Sensabaugh plenty in practice since the start of training camp. “I’m always talking to him about how I can get better in my route and my reads. He’s just a very smart dude.”

Haden and Mitchell are important parts of a secondary that is second in the league in yards passing allowed. Yet the Steelers did just fine without them while scoring the final 17 points after spotting Indianapolis a 17-3 lead. Colts quarterback Jacoby Brissett completed 5 of 11 passes for 91 yards after halftime, and 61 of those came on a touchdown throw to Chester Rogers just over two minutes into the third quarter. Rogers zig-zagged his way to the end zone, and Mitchell left the field limping after slamming into Hilton while trying in vain to bring Rogers down.

Cowboys must find fast fix with missing stars

FRISCO, Texas — Ezekiel Elliott will miss at least the next three games depending on the next legal round in the Dallas Cowboys running back’s fight over his six-game suspension for alleged domestic violence.

It’s likely the same for kicker Dan Bailey because of a groin injury, and could be another game or two for Pro Bowl left tackle Tyron Smith (groin, back) and 2016 AllPro linebacker Sean Lee after he tweaked a hamstring in the 27-7 loss at Atlanta on Sunday.

The absence of four of the most important Cowboys showed up in various ways against the Falcons and raises questions about the defending NFC East champions staying in contention with division-leading Philadelphia visiting Sunday night.

“When you have really good players, some of the best in the league and they’re not out there, certainly that makes a difference,” tight end Jason Witten said. “We believe in our system of football offensively and defensively. It’s harder when your key players aren’t out there.”

The most glaring absence was Smith: Replacement Chaz Green gave up five of Adrian Clayborn’s franchise-record six sacks for Atlanta. Green was benched for Byron Bell, who gave up the last one. The Cowboys, who allowed eight sacks of Dak Prescott, had never given up more than four to one player in a game.

Dallas (5-4) figures at least to have a competition between those two in practice this week before facing the Eagles (8-1), who can virtually wrap up the division title with a win.

Jackson takes burden for winless Browns

BEREA, Ohio — Hue Jackson might want to borrow DeShone Kizer’s flak jacket.

Cleveland’s coach is willingly taking some big hits for his rookie quarterback.

One day after a calamitous goalline situation at the end of the first half cost the Browns points — and maybe their first win — in a 38-24 loss to the Detroit Lions, Jackson again refused to discuss details of the sequence or lay blame on anyone but himself.

“I take responsibility for it,” Jackson said. “It is on me. It is not on DeShone. It is not on the offensive unit. I coach the offensive unit. I coach the quarterback. As I said yesterday, I am not going to back off that. Totally on me. Not on him. Whatever we think he should have done or could have done stems from my teaching of him. I take full responsibility for it.”

Fair enough, coach. So what did you not teach Kizer?

“I do not want to get into that,” he said. “Next question.”

While Jackson’s gesture to protect Kizer may be noble as he fights to save his job after going 1-24 in two seasons, it doesn’t explain why the Browns (0-9) botched a chance to cut into Detroit’s 17-10 late in the second quarter.

With the Browns at the Detroit 2-yard line with 15 seconds left and out of timeouts, Kizer tried a sneak but was stopped well short of the goal line. The Browns rushed to run another play, but failed to line up in time — the Lions did all they could to prevent Kizer and lineman Shon Coleman from getting up — before the clock expired.

Burfict avoids suspension for contact with official

CINCINNATI — Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict won’t be suspended for the contact with an official that got him ejected from a 24-20 loss at Tennessee.

A league spokesman said Monday that Burfict faces a fine only. He pushed an official’s arm out of the way on the sideline in the second quarter after quarterback Marcus Mariota ran out of bounds. Two plays earlier, Burfict drew an unnecessary roughness penalty for hitting Mariota out of bounds.

“I’ve been saying it: He’s going to be held to a different set of standards because of his past,” defensive coordinator Paul Guenther said Monday. “So he’s got to understand that. He does us no good when he’s sitting in the locker room for half a ballgame.”

Chargers’ Rivers reports concussion symptoms

COSTA MESA, Calif. — Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers is in the NFL’s concussion protocol after experiencing possible symptoms of a head injury, endangering his streak of 194 consecutive starts since 2006.

Rivers told the Chargers about his symptoms Monday after they returned from a 20-17 overtime loss in Jacksonville, coach Anthony Lynn said.

The Chargers (3-6) are still hopeful Rivers can play on Sunday when they host the Buffalo Bills, but they will be cautious with the health of one of the most durable quarterbacks in NFL history.

“He needs to pass the test first,” Lynn said. “If he’s not healthy, we do not want him on the field. But if he’s healthy and ready to go, then (he’ll play).”

Rivers wasn’t sacked by the Jaguars, but he was hit five times and pressured regularly. Lynn wasn’t certain when Rivers was hurt, but the quarterback took a big shot when he threw a long interception in overtime.