The Pittsburgh Steelers defense is going into Sunday’s game severely hobbled on defense. Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have to be wringing their hands like a supervillain at taking on a Steelers secondary that will be missing its top three cornerbacks and starting free safety.
Here is the full rundown for Sunday’s game.
CB Levi Wallace OUT
CB Ahkello Witherspoon OUT
CB Cameron Sutton OUT
S Minkah Fitzpatrick OUT
DE MeMarvin Leal OUT
TE Pat Freiermuth OUT
At this point, the Steelers’ secondary is going to see a lineup of James Pierre and practice-squad player Josh Jackson as the outside corners, Arthur Maulet in the slot and newly-added Duke Dawson as the No. 4 corner. Tre Norwood would start at safety again this week but this time replacing Minkah Fitzpatrick as opposed to Terrell Edmunds, who returns.
On offense, tight end Pat Freiermuth is in the concussion protocol and will be replaced as TE1 by Zach Gentry. This will also give rookie Connor Heyward a chance to see an increased role in the passing game.
