Staying injury-free will be a key to success for Steelers in 2019
By Tommy Jaggi
The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered relatively few injuries last season. Here’s why staying injury free will be a deciding factor towards success in 2019.
Training camps are just starting to take place around the NFL, and players have began to take the field. If there is one things Steelers fans have in common with fans throughout the league, it’s that we hope to get through this time of year without injuries.
We have seen players suffer season ending injuries in training camp, and it’s a fear that fans, coaches, and players all share.
T.J. Watt recently came up lame with some hamstring tightness after a run test on Thursday afternoon:
After experiencing tightness in his left hamstring following today's run test, the #Steelers have placed T.J. Watt on Active/PUP (Physically Unable to Perform) List to start #SteelersCamp.
— Missi Matthews (@missi_matthews) July 25, 2019
Although Watt will start training camp on the PUP list, his injury is not believed to be serious. However, it’s moments like these that remind us just how fragile season hopes can be.
T.J. Watt is one of the best young players on the Steelers, and is vital to their success on defense. Losing him would be devastating for a defense that has revamped its ability to get after the quarterback.
The Steelers had some nicks and bruises last season, but no devastating injuries to their star players. When the injury bug bites, it can spell disaster for a football team.
Injuries are impossible to predict at times, and sometimes it’s as simple as planting on a foot wrong in practice that could make or break a season.
If Ben Roethlisberger, JuJu Smith-Schuster, T.J. Watt, or Cameron Heyward were to miss extensive time, it would no doubt have negative effects on this football team.
Coach Tomlin will play it safe with T.J. Watt’s hamstring tweak (as he should). What’s most important for veterans this time of year is making it through training camp healthy and ready to go for the regular season.
T.J. Watt injury opens the door for other Steelers outside linebackers. dark. Next
The Steelers lost a few offensive stars and a great offensive line coach this offsesaon. Pittsburgh has some meshing to do on both sides of the ball. If they want to have a legitimate shot this year, they have got to stay injury-free.