While the Pittsburgh Steelers walked out of Tampa Bay with a victory, they didn’t leave Raymond James Stadium injury-free. As outlined by Mike Tomlin in his post-game press conference following the Steelers 27-17 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the team suffered several injuries that will need to be evaluated in the coming days.
“Had some in-game injuries,” Tomlin said via the team’s YouTube channel. “[Chapelle] Russell at linebacker had a knee that’s gonna be evaluated. [Nick] Kwiatkoski had a shoulder, Duke Dawson’s got a knee. Those guys need to be evaluated. Don’t have a lot of information there.”
Russell was hurt early in the game. It’s unclear how he went down but it appeared to occur on special teams. Kwiatkoski injured his right shoulder diving in coverage to force an incompletion. Dawson was injured late in the fourth quarter while breaking up a pass in the back of the end zone. While he’ll return to Pittsburgh for tests, it’s worth noting he’s torn his ACL twice before, once in college at Florida and again in 2020 as a member of the Denver Broncos.
Tomlin didn’t mention him by name, but rookie NT Keeanu Benton is among the most notable players who got hurt, leaving with an ankle injury. Impressive in his debut, it’s uncertain how he injured his ankle and its severity. Perhaps the fact Tomlin did not name him post-game is a positive sign.
With injuries to two inside linebackers, lines have suddenly gotten short there and it’s possible the team will have to make a roster move early next week.
Several veterans did not play in the opener, including DE Cam Heyward and OLB T.J. Watt. Rookie OLB Nick Herbig played despite recently suffering a hip flexor injury. He finished the day with 1.5 sacks. Tomlin noted last-minute injuries kept some players out of the lineup.
“We chose to exercise some precaution and not allow them to part participate,” he said. “Guys like Larry Ogunjobi and Joey Porter Jr. We’ll see the totality of all that when we get back to town and put together a good plan for next week.”
Pittsburgh will hold its next training camp practice Sunday at 1;55 PM/EST. We’ll be at practice to report who is and isn’t working. The Steelers’ next preseason game is Aug. 19 against the Buffalo Bills.
