Pittsburgh Steelers DL Cameron Heyward made it off the team’s Reserve/Injured List after being sidelined for seven games. Aggravating a groin injury in the season opener, he returned last Thursday against the Tennessee Titans and played, as he admitted, more than they had planned.
Projected to play about 20 to 30 snaps, he ended up playing 41 on defense—plus another five on special teams, and those proved to be adventuresome, including his very first snap back on a football field since early September, for an extra point at the end of the Steelers’ opening drive.
“During the game, first PAT, it’s my first play of the game, and I’m thinking just, regular snap. Bro, they tried to blow me up. They tried to kill me on the first snap”, he said on his Not Just Football podcast, the latest episode of which posted on Wednesday.
Heyward serves as the left end on the field goal unit, aligning to the left of LS Christian Kuntz, LG Isaac Seumalo, and LT Dan Moore Jr., and inside of the left wing on the unit, TE Rodney Williams in this case. The Titans overloaded their right side over Heyward and rushed him with two defenders occupying him.
“They tested my groin for sure”, Heyward said, though Kuntz, who was a guest on the show, expressed disappointment that they merely forced him to backpedal a bit. Heyward noted that they did the same thing next time on the other side to Isaiahh Loudermilk, who told Heyward after the fact that he was just trying to fall gracefully.
Strategically, it really was a smart idea, assuming that it was intentional at all. Heyward had just missed the past two months, roughly, while dealing with a groin injury. He clearly wasn’t expecting to get much resistance before even playing a snap on defense.
Hell, if we’re being honest, he probably wasn’t expecting the field goal unit to even be on the field for the opening drive. It’s usually the punting unit that takes the field after three plays and then it’s off to the races on defense.
But to face such exertion in a relatively unexpected moment before having had the chance to test the groin in a normal defensive setting could have proven fairly dangerous. It ultimately didn’t prove to be an issue, but there’s a reason that Heyward was bringing it up and talking about it on his podcast.
Fortunately, he proved to be no worse for wear. He still played 41 snaps on defense, as we talked about, registering six tackles during the game, along with another four snaps on the field goal unit to boot.
The Titans couldn’t have known for sure that Heyward would be back on the field goal unit just after returning from injury. But they still could have planned for it as a contingency if the situation arose. Maybe it was just a coincidence. But Heyward’s groin doesn’t feel the difference between intention and coincidence.
