Every year players get injured. It’s going to happen, it just depends who and how bad of an injury. But is it possible that injured players could possibly be a good thing for a team?
The Steelers have been decimated by injuries this year. That is not my opinion, it is a fact. No team is 100 percent healthy, and that is completely understandable. But, I don’t believe there is another team out there that has any more key injuries than the Steelers.
The biggest and most obvious key injury has to be Ben Roethlisberger. He is not only the teams best offensive player this year, but I would suggest he is in the top five in the whole NFL. The two and one-half games he has missed the team has just looked out of sorts in all phases of the offense. But, if he comes back in a timely manner and the Steelers make the playoffs, it could be a blessing in disguise. With how often he gets hit in a game, the rest might be enough to make him sharper and better the rest of the season.
The second group of injuries is almost equally important since there are so many. This group includes Antonio Brown, Marcus Gilbert, Troy Polamalu, Rashard Mendenhall, LaMarr Woodley, Isaac Redman and James Harrison. All of these players are either starters or players who see regular playing time during a game. The team has done a decent job up to this point at surviving games this year thus far. But, once these players continue to move toward being fully healthy and others get healthy enough to return the Steelers should be a team to fear.
Lastly, some injuries have been to players who were backups. Byron Leftwich started one game before he got hurt. Chris Rainey has been missed for few games returning kicks and some running plays. Jerricho Cotchery will also be missed more as a veteran presence than on the field play. Other players have filled in and then got hurt and missed a game, maybe two. This group has the least impact on the outcome of a game, but it is still hurting the team if nothing else it is hurting their depth.
Even with all these injuries, the Steelers are 6-5. It is less than ideal and some would argue they should be better, but if the season ended now they would be in the playoffs.
If the Steelers slowly get healthy and squeak into the playoffs, would they have a chance for a title? Yes. This team keeps reminding me of the Packers team that beat the Steelers in Super Bowl 45. The Packers that year finished 10-6, with 16 people on injured reserve and barely got in as a No. 6 seed for the playoffs. Knowing this makes me believe in the Steelers chances for the playoffs and possibly more. They need to get healthy and play good enough to just get into the playoffs and then anything can happen.
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