The old adage “next man up” is one of the most overused sayings in professional sports.
Unfortunately for the Pittsburgh Steelers, it’s been a recurring theme that has been applicable to the team time and time again.
Le’Veon Bell to miss the first two games of the season? DeAngelo Williams, come on down.
Subsequent announcement of a four-game suspension for Martavis Bryant? Time to step up, Darrius Heyward-Bey.
Then there was Shaun Suisham’s season-ending injury and the kicking soap opera that would ensue.
Ryan Shazier? Cortez Allen? Will Allen? More projected starters out, making the unexpected contributions of players like Sean Spence, Robert Golden and Ross Cockrell critical to the Steelers 4-2 start that has them within striking distance of the undefeated Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC North.
Of course who could forget Ben Roethlisberger? Roethlisberger is likely to miss his fourth straight game due to a knee injury that first brought us Michael Vick and now, inexplicably has the Steelers in position to start Landry Jones this Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Last week’s victory over the Arizona Cardinals not only cost the Steelers their second starting quarterback of 2015, it also ended starting left tackle Kelvin Beachum’s season. Beachum’s ACL tear means that the Steelers now have lost two of the best offensive linemen for the year after post-surgery complications will likely keep All-Pro center Maurkice Pouncey from playing again the season.
That means Cody Wallace and Alejandro Villanueva will now be asked to fill those considerable voids the rest of the way, and help protect a quarterback making his first NFL start against a Chiefs defense that has the ability to rush the passer at high level.
Give the Steelers credit, despite of this incredible rash of injuries, Mike Tomlin and staff have taken the saying “next man up” to heart. Losing so many players, including some that many teams would struggle to replace, is a testament to the job of the staff preparing each player individually to ready to go no matter where they started on a depth chart.
The players also deserve credit for stepping in and doing the job. Despite of not being expected to be starters, players like Golden, Spence, Wallace, Cockrell and Antwon Blake have filled in admirably early this season. Now players like Villanueva and Jones will be the next players that will have to prove they can do the job in much larger sample size than we saw last week against the Cardinals.
With the Steelers likely to get Roethlisberger back soon, earning their third win of the season without their franchise quarterback might put the team in position to make a push towards a division title the second half of the season once Roethlisberger is back in the fold.
