What an odd day it was on Sunday for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Anybody watching the six-time Super Bowl champions play the Houston Texans could plainly see that Pittsburgh was being outplayed by Houston. Less apparent to the naked eye, however, were the rash of injuries sustained by the Steelers during the 17-10 defeat.
Ben Roethlisberger, who suffered a sprained left foot, was visibly in pain. But he did not miss a snap during the game. Aaron Smith also sprained a foot during the loss, though it was not apparent that he was in pain or had injured anything until news broke of the injury after the contest. Then there was Rashard Mendenhal’s hamstring injury which came on a three-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Unlike Andre Johnson, who collapsed to the ground in pain with a hamstring injury of his own, Mendenhall was not noticeably hurt on the play. He would not return though following the touchdown.
As if that was not enough, throw in reserve running back Mewelde Moore, who also was in a boot on Monday. Again, it wasn’t clear when Moore injured the foot. Thankfully Mendenhall’s injury is not believed to be serious, so even if the cagey Moore were to miss any sort of significant time, the Steelers look like they’d still have Mendenhall and Isaac Redman at their disposal in the running game.
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