The Pittsburgh Steelers were punched in the gut after their fourth loss in their last five games. Now they are about to lose a Jaylen Samuels for about a month.
It hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing so far this year for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Mike Tomlin’s team was the center of attention this offseason for all the wrong reasons.
After finally parting ways with the distractions that were Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell, the Steelers ran into a plethora of problems in the early going. Ben Roethlisberger played just a game and a half before landing on injured reserve with a severe elbow injury that required surgery, and Mason Rudolph was knocked out cold last week against the Ravens.
Fans are desperately searching for good news. However, it doesn’t come with the latest on the health of running back Jaylen Samuels. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Samuels is expected to be sidelined about a month after having arthroscopic surgery on his knee:
Steelers’ HC Mike Tomlin said RB Jaylen Samuels underwent arthroscopic knee surgery on Monday and now will be sidelined about one month.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 8, 2019
Jaylen Samuels isn’t a starter for Pittsburgh, but he has been a big part of the gameplan. The second string running back has been a Wildcat quarterback at times who ran the ball 10 times and caught 8 passes against the Bengals in week four.
Samuels has been a big part of the passing game for the Steelers who are desperately searching for options, and his 11 receptions over the past two weeks are tied with Diontae Johnson for first on the team during that span.
The report states that Samuels is expected to return to action in about a month, so this knee surgery will not end his season. However, it’s unclear whether or not the Steelers will even be in contention to win the AFC North when he returns.
On the bright side, the Browns and Ravens aren’t exactly the Patriots and Chiefs. Their division is still wide open for the taking, and it’s not too late to make a push.
Pittsburgh has an incredibly difficult task this week, as they ask their former practice squad quarterback, Devlin Hodges, to secure a win on the west coast against the Chargers. If the Steelers can take care of business over the next few weeks, they will still stand to be competitive in their division once Samuels returns.