When Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown was ruled out for the Broncos game with a concussion, they lost not just one highly valuable player, but two, because he was not only their top wide receiver, but also their top punt returner. As it turned out, the Steelers didn’t really have a good backup for the latter.
In spite of the fact that he has had little to no background returning in general, and especially returning punts specifically, the Steelers enlisted Markus Wheaton as their backup punt return man behind Brown, and his first in-game attempt that not a promising one, foreshadowing a long day for the third-year wide receiver back deep.