[SBR Lou]

Steelers Notebook: Top pick, guard on IR, to miss rest of season
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It was a tough night at Heinz Field for the Steelers in many ways against the Baltimore Ravens.

Four players left the game with injuries, and two of them are done for the season.

Rookie halfback Rashard Mendenhall and right guard Kendall Simmons will be placed on injured reserve today. Mendenhall made his first start and he left in the third quarter with a fractured shoulder. Simmons has a torn Achilles tendon.

Backup linebacker Andre Frazier was carried off the field on a stretcher when he was injured on the opening kickoff, but he was judged to be OK and was in the locker room after the game after the Steelers announced he had a spine injury.

Running back Carey Davis left the game early in the fourth quarter with a sprained ankle.

Darnell Stapleton replaced Simmons, playing with the first-team offense for the first time in his two years.

The injuries to the running backs left the Steelers with one healthy back, Mewelde Moore. They went into the game with three. Gary Russell was on the roster until he was released the day before they played Philadelphia and re-signed to the practice squad.

They likely will add Russell to their 53-man roster this week and may have to sign another running back because starter Willie Parker is expected to miss the game Sunday in Jacksonville, Fla., with a sprained knee.

Gonna be a long year for Steelers fans. They were lucky to win last night IMO.

[hakrjak]

Man, Rashard Mendenhall breaks his shoulder like the first time he is really tackled in the NFL... What is with these fragile young rookies?

[McBa1n]

That's a huge blow to Pitts. Mendenhall isn't a big deal, but Simmons is.
O Line injuries usually impact the w/l totals quite a bit more than any other position other than QB. The Steeler's O Line is down, too, losing Faneca - and on tape, Faneca had a horrible year (for him) last year.

Word is, Pitts should be alright - but I'm not so certain. Jacksonville, for example, had nice depth on the O Line - while they're not as good as last year, they're still pretty solid. Pitts has had trouble with depth - but I think if they don't sustain any more injuries on the line, they'll be o.k. (like Jax).

Mendenhall going down only impacts Pitt as long as Parker is out - as they have NOTHING after that. They have serviceable backups and likely will bring Najeh Davenport back in. Mendenhall wasn't playing much, if at all, til Parker got hurt due to a poor preseason and rookie mistakes once the season started.

I think Pitts might be a good fade down the line. I thought they've been over-valued slightly the last 2 weeks on the spread - and they just missed covering 3 in a row. Injuries impact EVERY team, but Pitts is a team that the public likes. I don't know how today's news will impact the lines, but I think you have to start thinking about Big Ben having to do more - which means he's going to get hit more - which means his injuries will likely get worse.

Teams like Baltimore than just run the ball and play D will give Pittsburgh fits down the stretch - and they go to Jacksonville next week. Normally the FIRST game a new lineman is tossed into the fray, they do fine - it's the following weeks that they start to decline... Seattle had those issues, Indy had them out of the gate, Jacksonville has had inconsistency up front and have settled down a bit, but are still somewhat inconsistent.

Who knows - but I like fading Pitts for now and have been, but I still havn't done all my work for their game next week.