The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered a tough 41-37 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday night. In his postgame press conference, Mike Tomlin outlined three injured players coming out of the game. TE Eric Ebron (knee), OL J.C. Hassenauer (pec), and CB Arthur Maulet (neck) were named by Tomlin on the injury report.
“From an injury standpoint, Eric Ebron wasn’t able to return,” Tomlin told reporters post-game. “He’s got a knee that’s being evaluated. JC [Hassenauer], he’s got a pec that’s being evaluated. Arthur Maulet, I think he’s got a neck. He may or may not have been able to go back in. I think he was able to go back in. We had some other people go down, but I think they’re cleared in terms of being able to go back into the football game.”
Tomlin is correct that Maulet was able to go back into the game. He was injured on Justin Herbert’s long 36-yard run in the fourth quarter, colliding into teammate James Pierre. Hassenauer was hurt early in the game and replaced by Joe Haeg. A quick rule-out for a pec injury is never a good sign, but we’ll have to wait until Tomlin speaks again Tuesday for a further update. Kevin Dotson will have to miss at least the next two games after being placed on IR Saturday with a high ankle sprain. It wasn’t clear when Ebron was injured in the game.
As Tomlin mentioned, other players were injured and able to return. That list is highlighted by RB Najee Harris, who took a nasty forearm to the helmet on a play that was not flagged by the officials. Harris missed a few drives but returned to finish out the game.
From a COVID standpoint, Ben Roethlisberger officially was cleared and played Sunday night, tossing three touchdowns. Minkah Fitzpatrick remains on the COVID list and did not play against the Chargers.
