The Pittsburgh Steelers have struggled immensely on the defensive side of the ball in the first two weeks of the season. In Week One, against the New York Jets, four-time MVP winner Aaron Rodgers was able to overcome a shaky performance from his defensive and offensive line and throw for four touchdowns en route to a 34-32 win.
Unfortunately, in Week Two, those things were too much to overcome. Rodgers was sacked three times in a loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Pittsburgh’s home opener. Now, things are expected to get even shakier for Rodgers and that offensive line, according to one prominent NFL insider.
“Sources: #Steelers interior OL Max Scharping suffered a knee injury during today’s practice and the fear is that it’s significant. He’ll have an MRI to confirm the severity. A tough reality for a key depth piece for Pittsburgh,” Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported on Wednesday.
On Thursday, he confirmed the somber news.
“It is, in fact, a torn ACL, sources say. Max Scharping is out for the season.”
Fans reacted to the devastating loss to the Steelers’ line depth on social media.
“Huge loss for the Steelers… Rodgers needs that protection,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
“Terrible news. Steelers need all the help they can get on the O-line,” another fan added.
“Admittedly the vast majority of my feed is Steelers related, but I just can’t imagine there’s that many other teams that have more practice related season ending injuries than the Steelers. Wtf are they doing in practice that guys get knees blown out every year?” someone else wrote.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Steelers plan on replacing Scharping’s role on the line.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.