The Steelers already knew they faced a tall task of going on the road as the seventh seed in the AFC playoffs to face the second-seeded Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
Tuesday, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin confirmed that the job will be even a little more difficult with his team being without All-Pro outside linebacker T.J. Watt.
Watt, who led the NFL with 19 sacks this season, suffered a knee injury in the third quarter of the Steelers' 17-10 win at Baltimore that helped them secure a playoff spot and will not play against the Bills.
Watt won his fourth team MVP award last week. Replacing him won't be easy.
"You've got a few lines in the water when you're trying to replace the impact of a guy like T.J.," Tomlin said.
But that was something the Steelers were very cognizant of during the offseason. Watt missed seven games in 2022, with the Steelers going 1-6 in those contests without him. That made them 1-10 in games played without Watt in his career.
With that in mind, the Steelers acquired veteran linebacker Markus Golden in free agency, then added Nick Herbig as a fourth-round draft pick.
Together, that duo has produced 47 tackles, 7 sacks and 11 tackles this season. That's not quite Watt-like production, but they also did that despite combining to play just 421 defensive snaps.
It's their best depth at the position since 2015 when they had Arthur Moats (3.5 sacks) and Anthony Chickillo (2.5 sacks) behind James Harrison and Bud Dupree.
"We've got depth at the position," Tomlin said. "That's why we went out and thoughtfully acquired Markus Golden. That's why we drafted Nick Herbig. We're as deep at that position as we've been at some time. We're comfortable with the quality of depth."
The Steelers also could get a boost on the back end of their defense with the potential return of safeties Minkah Fitzpatrick and Damontae Kazee.
Tomlin said Fitzpatrick could be slowed early in the week at practice as he returns from missing the past three games with a knee injury, but he's optimistic about his availability for Sunday's game.
Kazee, meanwhile, is eligible to return from a three-game suspension imposed by the NFL for an unnecessary roughness penalty he drew in a game against the Colts.
That could bolster a secondary that has seen cornerback Patrick Peterson start at free safety the past three weeks next to veteran Eric Rowe at strong safety. Rowe has been a practice squad callup in each of the past three games.
"Life without T.J. and obviously playing without T.J. is significant," Tomlin said. "But we played without a lot of people this year. It's just another opportunity for us to strike a blow for team and to display what team really means. (It's a) collective of individuals that work together in an effort to produce an outcome.
"It's not gonna be a one-man job in terms of replacing T.J., just like I stood before you and said similar things when Cam Heyward missed a block of games. It is going to be a committee approach. Even in doing so, we had better strengthen output in other areas. But that's ball. There's an attrition component to it. That's what makes it the ultimate team game. I'm excited about preparing this group (to play)."
Going with the hot hand: Quarterback Mason Rudolph will make his fourth straight start on Sunday when he leads the Steelers offense against the Buffalo Bills.
"At the quarterback position we'll stay with Mason Rudolph," said Tomlin. "Much like in the spirit of how we worked a week ago, we're just simply staying with the hot hand and not disrupting the apple cart. We've been in some tough circumstances. He's delivered, we've delivered. So, we'll continue in that vein."
This will be Rudolph's first postseason action, but he brings a level of confidence to the field that is hard not to notice and will be needed on Sunday.
"I've said this repeatedly when asked about him," said Tomlin. "He has an unflappable confidence in himself. He's highly professional, he's always preparing and prepared. And I think that that provides the platform or the performances that you're seeing."
Rudolph is coming off a strong performance in miserable conditions against the Baltimore Ravens, where he competed 18 of 20 passes for 152 yards and a touchdown.
"He's making good decisions," said Tomlin. "But he's working hard from a preparation standpoint and that preparedness is showing. There's a cumulative body of work. Mason's been here a long time. And I think that's a component of it. And I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that component of it as well."
Since being inserted into the lineup, Rudolph has completed 55 of 74 pass attempts for 719 yards and three touchdowns, all of them long bombs of 60 yards or more.
"He's got deep ball capabilities," said Tomlin. "It's an asset to his game. And that was one of the reasons why we went to him. And the last three weeks have just been evidence of some of the things that we've been talking about in here. I don't know if the narrative changes at all. It's just confirmation of some of the things that we've been talking about."
Valuing his style: Running back Najee Harris has posted his third straight 1,000 plus yard season and did it by coming on strong when the team needed him most.
The last two weeks Harris had his only 100-yard games of the season, rushing for 122 yards on 27 carries against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 17 and 112 yards on 26 carries in the Week 18 meeting against the Baltimore Ravens.
"He's a big back," said Tomlin. "We value big backs here in Pittsburgh. The attrition component that is the season, the weather component, it's just teed up for guys will skill sets like his."
Being a professional: Returner Godwin Igwebuike might have made one of the most heads up plays in Sunday's game against the Ravens.
After the Ravens scored to tie the game, 7-7, the ensuing kickoff came to rest at the five-yard line, just inches from the out of bounds line. Igwebuike went out of bounds, and then laid out with his feet intentionally out of bounds and laid on the ball. By doing so, which is in the rule books, the kickoff was ruled out of bounds, a penalty on the Ravens, and gave the Steelers the ball at the 40-yard line.
Tomlin was asked about the heads-up approach by Igwebuike and said he simply did what is taught.
"He did it and I'm thankful that he did it," said Tomlin. "But those are procedural things that we work on all the time. We'd probably been hacked off had he not done it to be quite honest with you. You probably get more attention when you don't do it. Gunner (Olszewski) was in one of those circumstances earlier in the season and we were probably hacked off that he didn't.
"It's just procedural things that you go through in terms of preparedness that's professional, and I credit him for being professional.
"You guys act like he did a stupid human trick. He was just a professional."
