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Warning: Steelers practices may be hazardous to one's health

The Steelers started the season fairly healthy, and it's gone downhill since then. The issue this season is the players being brought in as replacements are getting injured as well.

By Neal Coolong
Justin K. Aller

Replacing injured players with injured players seems counterproductive. Replacing an injured player with a player who gets injured soon after replacing the previous player isn't much more effective.

That seems to be the way of things among the Steelers lately.

Levi Brown practiced for a week after being acquired by the Steelers. He proceeded to tear his triceps in warm-ups, and is now on injured reserve.

It took Sean Spence - a guy who's endured as painful a rehabilitation process as anyone on the team - one practice before suffering a set-back. Except it wasn't his knee.

Richard Gordon, the player signed to fill one of two Steelers' spots vacated by the IR designations of Levi Brown and David Johnson, will miss his first game with the Steelers after suffering a toe injury in practice this week.

While likely more of a coincidence, it's certainly an annoyance. Most teams in the league aren't importing injuries. Spence, certainly a remarkable comeback story, has those chances downgraded at least somewhat due to an injury suffered in his first practice back in over a year. Gordon didn't even get a chance to show whether he's capable of playing well.

To whatever these set-backs are attributed, there are only so many players available to replace injured ones. Spence could end up being placed on IR anyway, busted finger or not, and it's not as if Gordon was expected to play a significant amount of snaps. The Steelers' training staff is certainly keeping themselves busy, though.

As if that's ever not been the case.

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