The Pittsburgh Steelers have played essentially the past two games without Tyson Alualu, their starting nose tackle, who suffered a knee injury early in the game against the Baltimore Ravens. It’s not entirely a coincidence that they proceeded to have their two worst games of the year against the run.
With Alualu unavailable, they have had to find help in other sources, and have turned primarily to second-year Isaiah Buggs, but also to a pair of first-year players, including rookie Carlos Davis, who made his NFL debut Sunday. Henry Mondeaux, who was called up from the practice squad a few weeks ago, has also been active for the past three weeks.