The return of running back Rashard Mendenhall to the backfield could come following the bye week when the Pittsburgh Steelers host the Philadelphia Eagles a week from this coming Sunday. Should that indeed happen, Jonathan Dwyer is likely to be the odd man out, which would mean that he would find himself on the gameday inactive list until further notice.
Dwyer, who was the Steelers leading rusher during the preseason, fumbled on his third carry in the Steelers 34-31 loss to the Oakland Raiders this past Sunday and never saw another snap on offense during the game as a result. While Dwyer has played on special teams, the Steelers will find another body to put in there, as it will be hard for the former sixth round draft pick to get back in good graces for a while.
The Steelers running game has been non existent through the first three games of the season as none of the running backs have had success running the football so far. When Mendenhall returns, Isaac Redman will move to backup role, while Baron Batch and Chris Rainey will continue to see snaps in certain personnel groupings.
At the beginning of the season it appeared that Dwyer was pushing a dinged up Redman for the starting role, but that buzz has quickly faded thanks to the slow start of the run game. The fumble on Sunday by Dwyer turned into 7 points for the Raiders and the Georgia Tech product can expect to be in the doghouse for a while now as a result of it.
