Seemingly somewhat becoming an afterthought rather quickly is the fact that the Pittsburgh Steelers defense on Sunday was without the services of third-year starting outside linebacker Bud Dupree, who has been dealing with a super-secret shoulder injury through most of August and September, going back to the early stages of training camp.
This was supposed to be the former first-round pick’s big breakout year, but it is currently being postponed because of this injury, and it is not clear as of the time of this writing when his year will actually begin.
We should presumably learn more from Head Coach Mike Tomlin in just a bit later today during his weekly pre-game press conference, during which he is expected to update the injury situation of many players, including, notably, Stephon Tuitt, and no doubt J.J. Wilcox as well. Neither defender finished Sunday’s game, the former with an arm injury, the latter with a head injury.
Part of the reason that Dupree’s absence was put on the backburner was the fact that the Steelers had another first-round outside linebacker debuting on the day, that being T.J. Watt, who started the game and played the majority of the team’s snaps on the right side. He managed to record two sacks and an interception to go along with six tackles, one of which came on special teams.
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http://www.steelersdepot.com/2017/09...-afterthought/