Prior to their playoff meeting last January, the Steelers suffered two major injuries that hampered their defensive line in the week of practice before playing the Jaguars. Defensive end Stephon Tuitt suffered a hyperextended elbow in practice the Wednesday before that game, while nose tackle Javon Hargrave had a back issue crop up that Thursday.
Both played in the game but were obviously at less than full strength. The result was apparent in a 45-42 loss in which Leonard Fournette rushed for 109 yards and three touchdowns as Jacksonville controlled the line of scrimmage.
Going into Sunday's meeting in Jacksonville, the Steelers could find themselves in a similar situation, at least with one of those players.
Tuitt hyperextended the same elbow in last week's 52-21 win over the Panthers and missed his second day of practice on Thursday. It's looking more and more likely the Steelers could be without him against the Jaguars.
"Heck yeah," Cam Heyward said when I asked him if backup Tyson Alualu and Hargrave could help pick up the slack for an injured Tuitt. "Tyson has been doing this a long time and he knows what he's doing. And Hargrave has been in these situations. We have the depth and experience. They know the game plan. I feel totally happy with them if they're in there playing."
But the loss of Tuitt could be a big one against the Jaguars, a run-first team that relies on Fournette to make their offense go. At least they did in two wins over the Steelers last season -- beating them 30-9 in the regular season in addition to the playoff victory.
Fournette has rushed for just 124 yards on 44 carries this season but missed six games because of injury. He returned last week in a 29-26 loss at Indianapolis and had 53 yards on 24 carries.
That doesn't mean the Steelers can or will ignore him. Fournette rushed for 290 yards and five touchdowns in two meetings with the Steelers last season, something Keith Butler has reminded his unit of this week.
"We showed it, it's on our cutups and stuff like that," Butler said when I asked if he had shown he unit a lot of tape of last year's two meetings. "We've talked about these guys. They've been tough for us. They're well coached and a physical football team. Usually, the most physical football team wins these type of matchups. It's no different now."
One thing new defensive line coach Karl Dunbar has done this season is rotate his guys more, giving Heyward and Tuitt more plays off. As a result, both have played under 80 percent of the defensive snaps this season.
That was supposed to help keep that dynamic duo healthy. But it didn't account for friendly fire.
Tuitt played all of last season with a torn biceps tendon. But it was a hit from teammate Artie Burns in practice that caused his hyperextended elbow in practice last season just a few days before the Steelers hosted the Jaguars in their AFC Divisional Playoff game.
This time it was rookie safety Terrell Edmunds that got him in the second half of the win over the Panthers.
"It was friendly fire," said Tuitt, who had an MRI on the elbow earlier in the week. "I was reaching out to make a tackle."
The big defensive end has been having a solid season, recording 32 tackles, three sacks and 11 quarterback hits already this season. But if he can't play against the Jaguars, the Steelers could use a rotation of Alualu in their base defense and Hargrave and Alualu on passing downs to help solidify their defense.
Most teams won't use a nose tackle on the field in obvious passing situations, but Hargrave has unique pass rushing ability despite being 6-foot-2 and 305 pounds. He's made 27 tackles this season and has already surpassed his career high in sacks with three.
"As crazy as it sounds, he's a little bit slippery in his pass rush," Heyward told me. "He's able to get turned and get upfield and get guards or centers on islands and get off them. Not a lot of guys can do that as a nose. It's very advantageous for us because he's very versatile."