The Steelers got a mixed update as they settled in for Week 7 in Paris, France. The positive news came on defense: outside linebacker T.J. Watt, who showed up on the injury report with a calf issue, went from limited work to full participation in the team’s estimated report the next day.
The bigger concern is on offense, where running back Rico Dowdle is now questionable for the matchup with the New Orleans Saints because of a knee injury. Dowdle had just returned to the lineup in Week 6, so this is another setback for a player already trying to put his season back on track after missing three games earlier with a toe injury.
Dowdle was brought in to give Pittsburgh a real one-two punch in the backfield, and the Steelers are still waiting for the back-to-back 1,000-yard rusher to hit his stride. This latest injury makes that harder to do, and it comes at a time when the offense is still searching for its identity. The Steelers have had flashes, but the consistency just hasn’t stayed put.
If Dowdle can’t go, or even if he plays through the knee issue at less than full speed, Jaylen Warren is set up for another heavy workload. Head coach MIke McCarthy has continued to make it clear that Warren is one of the central pieces of the offense, and the usage points that way again here.
Warren is expected to handle around 15 to 20 carries and see at least five targets in the passing game. He’s topped 90 rushing yards in three of the last four games and has added at least 25 receiving yards in every game this season.
For the year, he has 460 rushing yards and a touchdown on 84 carries, plus 29 receptions for 258 yards and another score. In Paris, the Steelers may again be asking Warren to carry the load.
In Other News...
Steelers Could Have A Trade Deadline Opening They Rarely Get
With the Nov. 10 trade deadline approaching, the Steelers may be looking at a market they do not often get to shop in while sitting at 4-2. Around the league, a handful of struggling teams are shaping up as possible sellers, which matters in Pittsburgh because it could open a path to add help without having to wait for the offseason.
The teams most worth watching are the Chargers, Dolphins, Buccaneers and Titans, all of whom could be forced to listen if their seasons keep going the wrong way. For the Steelers, that creates an unusual opportunity to look at available talent across multiple positions, from wide receiver to the secondary, and see whether a move is there to be made before the deadline closes. [Read more 🡒]
Steelers Fans Just Got Painful Validation On George Pickens
George Pickens has a familiar kind of spotlight on him again, and this time it comes with a direct public critique from Dallas Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer after Week 6. Schottenheimer took aim at Pickens effort as both a receiver and a run-game participant, a familiar complaint for anyone who watched his last chapter in Pittsburgh, where the talent was never really in question but the consistency and engagement sometimes were.
For Steelers fans, the validation stings because it points back to a theme they know well from Pickens time here: the flashes were obvious, but so were the stretches that left everyone wanting more. Pittsburgh saw enough of those uneven days to understand why the discussion keeps circling back to effort, and Schottenheimers public comments only reopen the question of whether the same issues will keep following Pickens wherever he goes. [Read more 🡒]
Steelers Paris Trip Just Raised A New Concern Before Saints Game
The Steelers first trip to Paris was supposed to give them a little extra time to settle in before their Week 7 meeting with the Saints, but the weather has already complicated that plan. Pittsburgh was scheduled to arrive Thursday and use Friday for its only on-site practice at Stade de France, a chance to get comfortable in a new setting before game day and work through the usual details that come with an international trip.
Instead, the preparation took a hit when the team had to scrap that Friday session because of rain and wind. The forecast for Sunday is hardly kinder, with breezy conditions expected and the possibility of rain earlier in the day, which adds another layer of uncertainty to an already unusual week for a Steelers team playing its third regular-season international game and doing so with a head coach who has never handled one before. [Read more 🡒]