Mike Tomlin said Tuesday James Conner's injury is worse than the team initially diagnosed and the star running back will miss Sunday's game at Oakland.
In fact, chances are Conner will be out for several weeks with what Tomlin disclosed is an ankle sprain, not a contusion, as he initially reported Sunday night after the Steelers' 33-30 loss to the Chargers.
The injury occurred late in the fourth quarter of the loss to the Chargers as Conner was tackled from behind by safety Adrian Phillips. I asked Tomlin if it is a high-ankle sprain, an issue that can sideline a player for two to four weeks or longer.
"I don't know if you would describe it as a high-ankle sprain," Tomlin said. "It's an ankle sprain more than a contusion, which is what it was thought to be."
That was revealed in an MRI performed on Conner Monday. So now the Steelers (7-4-1) know what they face in the coming weeks, starting with Sunday's game against the Raiders (2-10).
Conner is currently second in the AFC with 909 yards rushing and leads the conference with 12 rushing touchdowns. The plan for the Steelers is to go with a mix of veteran Stevan Ridley, rookie Jaylen Samuels and possibly even sprinkle in Trey Edmunds to replace Conner.
Edmunds, the older brother of safety Terrell Edmunds, spent last season with the Saints, rushing for 46 yards and a touchdown on nine carries. He was signed to the practice squad following his release by the Saints at the end of the preseason.
"That is our intention as we sit here, but we have a preparation week in front of us and sometimes division of labor is revealed through that work," Tomlin said. "We've got a great deal of confidence in Ridley. We've got a great deal of confidence in Jaylen, particularly of late. He's a guy that's been on the rise in recent weeks. And Trey's a guy that has played some pro football. We were excited about getting him on our practice squad when we acquired him. We'll give him an opportunity to be a contributor, as well."
Ridley is the more accomplished runner in his career, with 732 career carries and a 1,000-yard rushing season under his belt, albeit in 2012 with the Patriots. Samuels has been more involved in the passing game of late and never had a game in his final season at North Carolina State in which he carried the ball more than 12 times. Those two have combined for 30 carries this season.
The question, however, is will the Steelers run at all.
They haven't much in recent weeks, running the ball just 44 times in their past three games, an average of 14.7 times per game as they've lost two of those. They averaged 24.3 rushing attempts per game in their first nine games, going 6-2-1.
That has put the Steelers run-pass ratio at about a 67-33 in favor of the pass this season. Because of that, Ben Roethlisberger leads the NFL in passing attempts with 517, 26 more than the next closest player.
As a team, the Steelers have fallen to 29th in the league running the ball, averaging 93.1 yards per game, despite being tied for fourth in rushing touchdowns with 15.
Both Roethlisberger and Tomlin defended that heavier reliance on the passing game on Tuesday.
"I don't think there's any reason for people to get worked up over the number of runs compared to the passes," Roethlisberger said on his weekly call-in to KDKA 93.7-FM. "At the end of the game, you've got to throw on every play. It's the way (the Chargers) dictated. They're a cover-3 team. They had a safety down in the box, which takes away the run a lot, which kind of dictates that you pass it. People are always going to get worked up over the numbers when you lose."
Conner had just 10 carries for 42 yards in the first half against the Chargers as the Steelers held a 23-7 lead. And the Steelers ran the ball on four of five plays to open the second half. But the last of those was a 22-yard run to the Los Angeles 26 that was called back because of a holding penalty called on Ramon Foster.
The team ran the ball just two more times after that call, which Tomlin pointed to as being a big one in the game.
"I'm not concerned about it," Tomlin said of his team's heavy ratio of passes. "Like I've said, we're going to be thoughtful in what we choose to do. We'd better be able to do all things well."
With the Steelers being so heavily reliant on the passing game, Roethlisberger has thrown 13 interceptions, which are the second-most in the league. But his interception percentage of 2.5 per 100 passes is more in line with the league average. Patrick Mahomes, for example has an interception percentage of 2.3. Andrew Luck, like Roethlisberger, is at 2.5.
But Roethlisberger has been throwing the ball more because the Steelers have gotten away from their running game.
"Sometimes, we're going to be run-heavy. Sometimes we're going to be pass-heavy," Tomlin said. "We'd better be a group that's capable of attacking in both. I'm comfortable we're still working in that trajectory."