Injuries have not been kind to the Pittsburgh Steelers this season, particularly on defense. They have missed two of their starting defensive linemen for all or nearly all of the season. Joe Haden has now missed five games. T.J. Watt has missed two starts and large chunks of a few others. Alex Highsmith has missed time, both in terms of starts and time within games.
None of that matters at the end of the day when you’re talking about winning and losing and simply performing, from the player perspective. “It’s not an excuse”, defensive captain Cameron Heyward said when the injuries and replacement parts were brought up.