Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Cameron Heyward announced on Tuesday afternoon that he would miss the remainder of the season.
The Steelers’ ‘quite terrible’ defense just lost one of its best players
Cameron Heyward never missed a game in his career until this season. Now, he’ll be out the remaining seven, for a total of nine.
Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images
Heyward suffered a pectoral injury in a 35-30 loss to the Dallas Cowboys Sunday that dropped the Steelers to 4-5. He hadn’t missed a game in his first five NFL seasons. The injury will force him to miss the Steelers’ remaining seven, after missing Weeks 6 and 7 earlier this year.
He posted a photo of him and his teammates in the locker room, thanking everyone who has helped him this season, and looking forward to 2017.
In seven games this season, Heyward had four pass deflections, one fumble recovery, three sacks, and 17 tackles.
His best game this season came against the Kansas City Chiefs in a 43-14 victory, where Heyward had three sacks, and seven tackles.
The 2011 first-round pick has 218 tackles and 25 sacks in his career. Last offseason, Heyward signed a six-year contract extension with the Steelers.
The loss of Heyward is monumental for a Steelers team that has now lost four consecutive games. After their loss to the Dallas Cowboys, James Harrison, Ben Roethlisberger, and Le’Veon Bell were all critical of their team’s mistakes.
Harrison was especially tough on his team. Not wanting to talk about a specific reason why the defense was poor against the Cowboys in Week 10, he said, “It was totally shitty. We are quite terrible.”
After their Week 7 loss to the Patriots, linebacker Ryan Shazier didn’t hold back on his feelings in regards to the team’s defense. “We didn’t make tackles. Everyone is responsible,” Shazier said. “We have to hold each other accountable. We have to make sure we can be the defense we can be. Right now, we’re looking like garbage. This is terrible right now.”
NFL.com’s Kevin Patra added that, “The absence of defense end Cameron Heyward the past two weeks is a big reason the Steelers’ defense struggled to plug the run and push the pocket in the pass rush.” It appears that hasn’t gotten any better.
Luckily for the Steelers, they face the 0-10 Cleveland Browns next.
See More:
