PITTSBURGH — Not that you were going to see the Steelers’ key players in the second half of Sunday’s exhibition against Detroit anyway, but the action ended early for two of their four 2021 Pro Bowl picks.
Wide receiver Diontae Johnson and outside linebacker T.J. Watt were ruled out by the team due to injuries before the end of the first half. Johnson went down early with a shoulder injury, and Watt left later on in the second quarter with an apparent left knee injury. Coach Mike Tomlin told CBS at halftime both players sustained minor injuries and may have been able to return in a regular-season game.
After a 38-yard catch down the left sideline in the first quarter, Johnson may have landed awkwardly and did not return. Watt was hit on a cut-block by Lions tight end T.J. Hockenson — not unlike the one that injured Giants first-round pick Kayvon Thibodeaux last week and caused controversy throughout the football world — but came back into the game afterward. That first blow to Watt had him moving gingerly, but it was another play on the next possession that sidelined him from there.
