4 takeaways from Steelers Week 2 loss vs Raiders

The Pittsburgh Steelers had a host of injuries to valuable starters by the end of the first half.

The Steelers had to enter the game without top 10 draft pick Devin Bush, starting cornerback Joe Haden, and a mammoth of a player in Stephon Tuitt.

By the end of the first half, the Steelers had lost Defensive player of the year candidate Tj Watt and arguably their best run defender from 2020 in Tyson Alualu. Yet time and time again the Steelers were keeping the Raiders out of the endzone. It took Las Vegas until over halfway through the 3rd quarter to hit pay dirt.

I’m not going to say that the Steelers have the deepest defense in the league but for the Steelers to start the 2nd half missing five starters and for one of them to be possibly the best defender in the league and still give the Raiders as many problems as they did is impressive. The main issue is injury.

I don’t know what the Steelers are doing in practice or how the training staff is preparing the players but it is not working. The last three seasons have been hampered by injury more than we want to admit.

In 2019 the Steelers had called up a total of 11 different players from their own practice squad and other practice squads for just their offense alone. Against the Bills in 2020 the Steelers were down to Marcus Allen who was a safety that had converted to linebacker on the inside. The Steelers ended Week 2 of 2021 without seven players who are supposed to receive significant playing time this season.