Dennis Dixon Out With Injury, Steelers Quarterback Carousel Keeps Spinning

The Post-Gazette is reporting that third-year quarterback Dennis Dixon could be out 3 - 5 weeks with a torn lateral meniscus, an injury he suffered early in yesterday's victory over the Tennessee Titans. Veteran Charlie Batch replaced Dixon mid-game and was able to preserve Pittsburgh's lead en route to a dominant nine-point win.

Byron Leftwich, the other candidate to see some playing time during the last half of Ben Roethlisberger's suspension, is trying to recover from a preseason MCL sprain that all but guaranteed Dixon the starting job, at least for the regular season's first two weeks. Whether or not Leftwich will be healthy enough this coming Sunday to take on his former team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, remains to be seen.

My view is that who starts in Week 3 is almost irrelevant. Tampa starting out 2-0 is a nice story for a franchise that has really faltered the last few seasons, but this week's contest should be among the least challenging for the Steelers, who can frustrate second-year quarterback Josh Freeman with zone blitzes and run all over a Buccaneers defensive front that ranked among the league's bottom half in 2009.

With the way Pittsburgh's defense is playing lately, Head Coach Mike Tomlin really only needs a warm body under center to hand the ball off to Rashard Mendenhall and Issac Redman 30 or 40 times. Hell, the Steelers could punt on every offensive snap and still find a way to win with their defense. (Okay, probably not, but still.)

Hey, Coach -- if Leftwich can't go on Sunday and something happens to Batch in this week's practices, give me a call!