The Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts are locked in a fierce battle in Week 5, and both offenses have seen plenty of success through the air as of this writing. Unfortunately for the Steelers, their passing game took a potentially serious hit midway through the game.
Roman Wilson and Ben Skowronek have both been ruled out for the remainder of this week's game, leaving the Steelers with just DK Metcalf, Germie Bernard, Brandon Smith, and return specialist Kaden Wetjen available at receiver, with Michael Pittman Jr. already on Injured Reserve.
With still plenty of game left to play, can the Steelers manage the game well enough to prevent these injuries from hurting them?
Pittsburgh Steelers will need to hang on to their lead without two key receivers
As of writing, Pittsburgh holds a 24-22 lead over the visiting Colts, and they can thank the continued dominance of Jaylen Warren for that lead. He has two touchdowns on the day, an 80- yard catch and run and an explosive 50-yard run. His play since being forced into a feature-back role has helped the offense find its footing after a rough start to the year.
Still, Warren can't carry the load by himself. Tight ends Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington have been featured often in the passing game, as has the rookie, Bernard. But Metcalf has had another quiet game after finally showing signs of life late in last week's loss to the Browns.
Aaron Rodgers is also doing his best to get the ball out as fast as possible, likely due to all the hits he took a week ago. That will limit how much the offense can do, but it may be the right idea if you don't have your best separator in Wilson. Even Skowronek has had his occasional moments as a receiver, particularly out of heavy formations where they sneak him down the field off of play action.
Without those elements of the offense available to them, head coach Mike McCarthy should try and rely on his running game and his tight ends to try and ice this game. That's assuming his defense can stiffen up after allowing far too much space in the passing game so far, which is a shame given how well they have shut down star running back Jonathan Taylor.
Let's hope that they can do enough to hang onto this win at home, as the schedule is only going to get harder as the season moves along.
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