The Pittsburgh Steelers are now into the regular season, in which they entered with big aspirations, in spite of a tumultuous start to the offseason. Significant players were lost via trade and free agency, players who have helped shape the course of the franchise in recent years. We even now sit here without Ben Roethlisberger after just two games.
The team made some bold moves this offseason and in some areas of the roster look quite a bit different than they did a year ago. That would especially be the case at wide receiver and inside linebacker, where they have new starters. And quarterback was suddenly added to that list.
How will the season progress without Roethlisberger, behind Mason Rudolph? How will the young players advance into their expected roles? Will the new coaches be up to the task? Who is looking good in games? Who is sitting out due to injury?
These are the sorts of questions among many others that we have been exploring on a daily basis and will continue to do so. Football has become a year-round pastime and there is always a question to be asked, though there is rarely a concrete answer, as I’ve learned in my years of doing this.
Question: Will the Steelers get Benny Snell back this week?
With the news that starting running back James Conner is likely to continue to miss time after aggravating a shoulder injury that he suffered in Week Eight against the Miami Dolphins in his attempt to return last week, attention now turns to the other running back who has been missing since then: rookie Benny Snell.
Snell went down against the Dolphins as well, suffering a knee injury, and he ended up having a cleanup procedure, one that was presumably similar to the one that Jaylen Samuels dealt with earlier in the year. That was on October 28, and the Steelers’ next game is on the 24th, so that’s pretty close to a month.
Samuels suffered his injury on October 6 and returned November 3, so that’s very nearly the exact same timeline. Perhaps that offers some optimism that Snell will be able to play this week against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Steelers have not run the ball well at all since Conner’s injury. Snell wasn’t having a great year overall either, but he was having easily his best game before suffering his knee injury. Or the week before that, anyway. He rushed for 75 yards on 17 carries against the Chargers, and then was injured on five carries for 13 yards against the Dolphins.
Pittsburgh currently has just Samuels, Trey Edmunds, and new signing Kerrith Whyte at running back, who was added from the Bear’s practice squad a few days ago. They could definitely use Snell back.
