After suffering an ankle injury in the first quarter of the Pittsburgh Steelers preseason game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, the team knew they would be without Pro Bowl center Maurkice Pouncey.
They just didn’t know for how long.
According to the Tribune Review’s Mark Kaboly, Pouncey, who broke his left fibula near his ankle, will be put on the injured reserve/designated to return to start the season.
That means Pouncey will be forced to miss at least the first six games of the season, but the timetable looks to be worse as the timetable appears to be for a potential return for some time after the Nov. 22 bye.
If that is indeed the case that means Pouncey, who had surgery on August 25, will at least miss the Steelers first 10 games of the season.
Missing time isn’t anything new to Pouncey as most recently he appeared in just one game of the 2013 season after tearing the ACL and MCL in his right knee. He did bounce back to play 16 games last season, marking the first time he has played every regular-season contest since 2010.
Cody Wallace will more than likely get the bulk of the playing time in Pouncey’s absence.
The Pouncey injury is just another big blow to a Steelers’ offense that should be one of the NFL’s best, at least on paper.
However the season hasn’t even started yet and the team is already without the anchor of the offensive line, their top running back as Le’Veon Bell will be serving a two-game suspension, and one of their top receiving targets as Martavis Bryant was suspended for four games on Thursday for substance abuse.
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