JuJu Smith-Schuster is expected to have surgery on his injured right shoulder and will miss the rest of the season, sources have told the Post-Gazette.
Coach Mike Tomlin said Smith-Schuster was taken to a hospital for evaluation after Sunday's 27-19 victory against the Broncos, the first indication the injury was more severe than normal.
Smith-Schuster was injured on a jet sweep in which he gained 3 yards before being tackled by Broncos safety Kareem Jackson late in the second quarter. He also had a three-yard run on a jet sweep on the opening possession of the game.
Curiously, the two running plays were the only times Smith-Schuster touched the ball against the Broncos. He was targeted just once but did not have a reception before he was injured.
"Obviously, it goes through your mind that it's tough seeing him in that type of pain," Steelers receiver Diontae Johnson said. "Anybody on that field, it's tough seeing somebody get hurt. He's a key player for our offense. We've just got to rally around him, be there for him off the field, because you never know what's going through his mind."
It was just more bad news for Smith-Schuster, who returned to the Steelers in free agency with the idea of having a big season with Ben Roethlisberger in the hopes of landing a lucrative long-term contract with another team.
In the past two games, Smith-Schuster has been targeted 10 times with just two catches for 11 yards. In five games, he has 15 catches for 129 yards, an average of 8.6 yards per reception, and has not scored a touchdown. His longest reception in the past four games is 17 yards.
Despite his reduced statistics, Smith-Schuster has been Roethlisberger's most dependable and clutch receiver since Antonio Brown was traded after the 2018 season.
Smith-Schuster's injury comes after each of the other top receivers — Chase Claypool, Diontae Johnson and James Washington — have missed at least one game with injury. His absence will likely mean increased playing time for Ray-Ray McCloud and keep recently promoted Cody White on the 53-man roster.
It also comes at a time when the offense had its most balanced game of the season against Denver, getting 253 yards passing and two touchdowns from Roethlisberger and the first 100-yard rushing performance of Najee Harris' young career.
Props to the offense
Harris felt a little sheepish coming to a post-game press conference because he said the attention should be heaped on the offensive line, not on his first 100-yard rushing game in the NFL.
Harris had 123 yards on 23 carries against the Broncos, the most yards by a Steelers running back in 30 games.
"It's not so much me; I'm more excited the way the offensive line did just because of all the criticism they've been taking," Harris said. "And we stuck to it."
Guard Trai Turner, an eight-year veteran and the oldest member of the starting offensive line at 29, said he has been preaching to his linemates to focus more on their assignments and not try to do too much outside the framework of the line.
"It's a start, it's a start," Turner said. "I never get too far ahead of myself because I'm always searching for the perfect game, and it's still out there. We haven't found it yet. But now we've seen what we can do, so you can't go back. You've got to keep pushing forward. We've got to keep getting better and keep getting better because if we don't come out there and put on this performance again, then what good was it for?"
Pressure on the defense
The three-headed monster the Steelers thought they might be unleashing on the NFL has turned into just a one-headed beast.
Aside from T.J. Watt, the Steelers are getting little if any pressure on the quarterback from the other two outside linebackers, Alex Highsmith and Melvin Ingram III, since the season opener in Buffalo.
Watt did not have a sack against the Broncos, but he has five of the Steelers' 10 sacks despite missing seven quarters with a groin injury.
However, Ingram has just one sack in five games and Highsmith doesn't have any. What's more, Highsmith doesn't even have a quarterback hit — a slow and disappointing start to his second season.
That makes the absence of defensive end Stephon Tuitt all the more significant. He is on injured reserve after having knee surgery and has no timetable to return. Tuitt had 11 sacks in 2020, fifth most among defensive linemen.
Without him and nose tackle Tyson Alualu, who is out for the season, Cam Heyward has faced constant double-teams from opposing offensive lines. Heyward does not have a sack and has just one quarterback hit since the victory in Buffalo, but he remains disruptive in other ways. Against the Broncos, he batted two passes at the line of scrimmage — the second coming on third down on the opening possession of the second half.
Tomlin said the Broncos were keeping tight end Noah Fant and an extra running back in for pass protection because quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was returning from concussion protocol.
"They were trying to neutralize our four-man rush with tight ends and running backs and so that gave us an advantage in the routes — seven versus three vertical runners," Tomlin said. "So we were able to win a lot of those possession downs."
