Coming off their bye week, the Pittsburgh Steelers were a relatively healthy football team. Despite having lost several players for the season, the players who are available to them were healthy enough to play football, but after their Week 12 loss to the Seattle Seahawks they head back to Pittsburgh a banged up team.
Of the injuries the Steelers now have to deal with are of the worst variety, all to starters. Heath Miller, who was on pace for a career day, left the game in the second quarter with a rib injury. He went into the locker room only to return, but to aggravate the injury which kept him out of the lineup for the duration of the game.
The other injury which occurred during the first half was a concussion to ILB Ryan Shazier. Shazier, who has spent a great deal of time on the team's injury report his first two seasons, left the game to undergo the NFL's mandatory concussion protocol, only to be told he suffered a concussion and will not be returning.
In the fourth quarter, it only got worse when Ben Roethlisberger essentially took himself out of the game due to concussion-like symptoms, giving way to Landry Jones for the team's final drive of the game.
These are three injuries not only to starters, but the severity of these injuries could jeopardize their availability for the Steelers' Week 13 game against the Indianapolis Colts at Heinz Field. With the Steelers now 6-5, and in a large pack of teams with the same record, the team can ill afford a slip up at home against the Colts. Mike Tomlin will address the media on Tuesday at noon to answer questions and update the injuries the team faces. Until then, if any news breaks on the injury front, BTSC will update you on everything surrounding the black and gold.