Pittsburgh Steelers: How the offense will work without Antonio Brown
The Pittsburgh Steelers held their breath Sunday when Antonio Brown went down for the game and made a hospital trip. With him out the rest of the regular season, how will the offense look without him?
When the Pittsburgh Steelers battled the Patriots last Sunday, the last thing on their mind was Antonio Brown getting hurt. On an attempted touchdown pass, Brown came down awkwardly and was hit by a defender in the leg.
Brown came out of the game and hobbled to the locker room. After initial X-rays were negative, Brown went to the hospital for further evaluation.
After the game, Brown reportedly had suffered a partially torn calf muscle. Mike Tomlin’s press conference this week called it a ‘significant lower leg contusion.
This injury will keep Brown out for the next two games. This will give him two weeks minimum and possibly three weeks to heal up.
With Brown out, the Steelers offense takes on a different look. With no elite receiver like AB on the outside, defenses will be able to key in on Le’Veon Bell and the run game.
The Steelers run game will have a tougher time getting going due to the focus of the defense. They will need higher levels of performance from Juju Smith-Schuster and Martavis Bryant because of this.
With Pittsburgh relying on those two more, it will bring with it more expectations from Eli Rogers as well as the tight ends. Jesse James has played well as of late and a healthy Vance McDonald will only make things easier.
The Steelers will look to use the run game to open up the pass with Brown sidelined. The offensive line will have a harder time opening up running lanes with the focus on stopping Bell.
If Ben Roethlisberger can get passing lanes, look for JuJu and company to play well in Brown’s absence. The Steelers have a lot of offensive talent capable of picking up the slack.
Smith-Schuster has big play potential as he showcased on Sunday getting the team in field goal range before the gut-wrenching loss. Bryant is always a threat for a big play as well and Eli Rogers is no slouch, although his production as dropped significantly this season.
The Steelers will need to rely on the rest of the skill positions to rise up with Brown down. They will need the defense to tighten up and allow the offense to work within itself and with a lead and not play from behind.
The Steelers remaining schedule is not a daunting one. The Texans who are without starter Deshaun Watson and the win-less Cleveland Browns remain.
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The Steelers should not take either team lightly and press on as they have not locked a first round bye. They must win out for the number two seed and hope for the Patriots to slip-up in the last two weeks to regain the number one seed.