The Pittsburgh Steelers opened their 2019 regular season Sunday night with a 33-3 road loss to the New England Patriots and to make matters worse, four key players were injured during the fourth quarter of the blowout.
According to head coach Mike Tomlin during his post-game press conference, cornerback Joe Haden (shoulder), wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (toe), outside linebacker T.J. Watt and center Maurkice Pouncey were all injured during the Sunday night loss and all four players are being evaluated.
“Bumps and bruises like things. We’ll we’ll get those things evaluated,” Tomlin said. “I’ll have more information for you on Tuesday.”
As mentioned, Haden, Smith-Schuster, Watt and Pouncey were all injured in the fourth quarter and after the game was well in hand for the Patriots. For whatever it’s worth, Haden did return to the game after leaving it for maybe a play or two.
After the game, Smith-Schuster reportedly said that he injured his toe when he got rolled up on and that he expects to be ready to play next weekend, according to Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com.
When Watt left, he was replaced by outside linebacker Anthony Chickillo. Watt never returned to the game. Pouncey was replaced by backup center B.J. Finney and he forgot the snap count on his first play in the game.
The Steelers Week 2 is next Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks and Tomlin will next address the media on Tuesday. We might have to wait until then before we have a better idea if any of the four players injured Sunday night are at risk of missing the game against the Seahawks.
