Update: Harmon has been ruled out with a foot injury
The Pittsburgh Steelers are looking to end decades' worth of futility in road Thursday night games against divisional opponents with a win over the Cleveland Browns this week. As of this writing, it's not going particularly well, and an unfortunate injury to second-year defensive tackle Derrick Harmon is making it even harder to keep things close.
Harmon was carted off during the second quarter with a foot injury, leaving the Steelers without one of their top defenders on the interior. The Browns took advantage of his absence (as well as horrendous tackling from the entire defense) by adding to their lead and taking a 21-10 lead into halftime.
The latest update as of writing is that Harmon is questionable with a foot injury. Not an easy injury to play with as a 300-pounder, and that's if he is even able to make it back in.
Derrick Harmon's absence could be a huge roadblock for a Pittsburgh Steelers comeback
With the Browns holding an 11-point lead, they will likely start looking to establish the run to try to end this game as fast as possible. Running back Quinshon Judkins has looked much more like the budding star he was last year so far on Thursday night, despite averaging just 1.8 yards per attempt in the first half. If Pittsburgh can't keep him bottled up again, their chances of mounting a comeback will be slim to none.
Harmon is the Steelers' stoutest run defender, aside from the ageless wonder Cam Heyward. Keeanu Benton has finally been allowed to move around the defensive front instead of being pigeonholed into playing nose tackle, so asking him to help in run defense isn't a recipe for success.
With the linebackers (especially Patrick Queen) struggling mightily to wrap up ball carriers, asking them to make up the difference isn't happening either.
Harmon has also started to make an impact in the passing game, most notably his game-winning strip sack of Joe Burrow in Week 3. If Pittsburgh does manage to claw back in this game, their pass rush hasn't made a big impact in this game despite DeShaun Watson's tendency to take plenty of sacks.
Overall, this is not a player that the Steelers' defense can afford to lose in a game like this. It also adds to some of the durability concerns that showed up in Harmon's rookie season, when he missed time with multiple knee injuries. Here's hoping he can get back on the field sooner rather than later.
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