The Pittsburgh Steelers certainly have had more than their fare share of groin injuries so far this season. In fact, this past Sunday, inside linebacker Devin Bush, who already missed one game this season due to a groin injury, injured it again against the Denver Broncos and now he’ll seemingly start Week 6 as questionable. With so many players having already dealt with groin injuries so far this season, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was asked Tuesday if he had any concern about the team’s approach in handling and preventing soft tissues injuries.
“Not at this juncture, no” was Tomlin’s short response.
If only the list of groin injuries could be just as short. The Steelers have had countless key players hampered by groin injuries already this year. That list includes: WR James Washington, ILB Devin Bush, OLB Alex Highsmith, CB Cam Sutton, OLB TJ Watt, and CB Joe Haden. All six players have missed game action because of it while Bush appeared to reaggravate his injury on a seemingly innocuous play Sunday.
Perhaps something for the strength and conditoning staff to look at, led by Garrett Giemont and Marcel Pastoor, but it’s impossible to know if there is an issue with their training or if it’s just plain bad luck.
RB Najee Harris dealt with cramping of his own and couldn’t play in most of the fourth quarter as the Steelers tried to grind out their eventual victory. After the game, Harris said his cramp issues stem back to his days at Alabama, his body adjusting to the humidity after not experiencing much of it in his home state of California. Tomlin said the team was aware of the issue before drafting him and the key to minimizing those issues were simple.
“It starts with hydration. We got professionals, man. We know he’s a professional, we have certified athletic trainers and nutritionists and so forth. We’re continually managing that. We just gotta do it a little bit better. But I will acknowledge that he had a little bit more work in that game than he had in others. And so we’ll continue to adjust and find our footing there, but it’s really no big deal to be quite honest with you.”
Pittsburgh appears on track to have some players dealing with soft-tissue injuries back for Sunday night’s game against the Seattle Seahawks. Tomlin indicated CB Cam Sutton and WR James Washington have good chances to play after missing the Broncos game. He also left the light on for Bush.
