If this were gameday, the Steelers might find themselves in a precarious situation on their offensive line. Fortunately for them, they will still have three more days to rest and, ideally, recover before taking on the Buccaneers in Tampa on Monday night.
But if Friday's practice participation is any indication, they could be without David DeCastro and Marcus Gilbert. Both are still out with their respective hand and hamstring injuries. And that's actually an improvement after Ramon Foster returned to practice a day earlier from his knee injury.
DeCastro and Gilbert both remain hopeful of playing in Tampa, but tomorrow's practice will be the better indication of whether or not either will play.
However, it does underscore the Steelers' alarming lack of depth along the offensive line.
"It’s tough, man, it's not ideal. It's not what you want, to have guys hurt, especially this early in the year," DeCastro was saying. "It’s one of those things where no one feels bad for us. We have to have guys step up and make plays."
When healthy and available, the starting quintet of center Maurkice Pouncey, left tackle Alejandro Villanueva, left guard Foster, right guard DeCastro and right tackle Gilbert still rank among the elite offensive lines in the NFL. They are all well into their second NFL contracts and they've also been the catalyst behind one of the league's most potent offenses in recent years, ranking in the Top 3 in three of the last four seasons.
Despite a disappointing 0-1-1 start to this season, the Steelers still have the NFL's No. 2 offense, second only to their opponent on Monday. The Steelers have been churning out 473.5 yards per game, even without Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown off to a sub-par start, by his otherworldly standard.
The line's greatest strength though comes from its chemistry and relative continuity over the past four seasons. That, however, is being challenged this week.
If DeCastro can't go, he will be replaced by B.J. Finney for the second straight game. If Gilbert can't go, Matt Feiler will make the second start of his career.
"We know what's expected of them when they come in and play: To play at a high level and be able to play to the standard, don't let the guy down next to him," Gilbert was saying of the backups. "These guys have the right mindset. They come to work everyday and they prepare like they're starting."
Though undrafted, Finney is at least a bit of a proven commodity. He's started seven games over the past two seasons at both center and guard and is viewed as a potential successor to the 32-year-old Foster, who will be a free agent at season's end. Last season, Finney played 21.25 percent of the offensive snaps and has acquitted himself quite well.
Feiler, an undrafted second-year player out of Division II Bloomsburg University, is a far greater question mark. His only start came in last year's meaningless regular-season finale against winless Cleveland. He played 75 snaps last season, 59 of them against the Browns in Week 17, the only game that the All-Pro DeCastro hadn't appeared in since Week 8 of 2013.
The 26-year-old Feiler has been in the organization since 2016 when he served on the practice squad. He believes his experiences of the past two seasons have him confident the offense won't skip too many beats if Gilbert can't play.
"We've all kind of known each other for a while now," Feiler was telling DKPittsburghSports.com. "Kind of worked next to each other for a while. I feel comfortable playing next to anybody. Hopefully, they feel the same."
Ideally, the Steelers would like to avoid a scenario like that in 2013 when they used a mish-mash of seven different starting offensive line combinations. That was the season that Pouncey was lost for the year on the first possession of Week 1 vs. Tennessee. And that was also the season that the Steelers started 0-4, their worst start since Bill Austin's final season as coach in 1968.
That 2013 team finished 8-8 and out of the playoffs. At least on paper, this Steelers team is far better and more experienced than that one. But they do face the very real prospect of going winless in their first four games if they can't get past Tampa Bay and its high-octane offense on Monday. Coming up in Week 4, the Steelers host Baltimore in an always tough divisional game on a Sunday night.
"There's no cause for panic," Feiler was saying. "It's just another game. We have to go out there and play. It's just as important as any other."
Needless to say, missing 40 percent of the offensive line for a huge, primetime matchup is not what the Steelers would like on Monday. But outside of Finney and Feiler there are no great options. That is where the Steelers' lack of depth is exposed.
After Chris Hubbard signed a lucrative five-year, $37.5 million contract with Cleveland in free agency, the Steelers' problems were compounded in the spring when Jerald Hawkins went down with a quadriceps injury in OTAs. This is the second straight year that the swing tackle will spend on IR. He was a prized fourth-round pick in 2016 and the Steelers believed he may have been a first rounder had he stayed for another year at LSU. Now, they'll have to wait yet another year to find out about him.
The highly forgettable Bryce Harris was brought in as a potential replacement but he checked out of Rooney Hall soon after he signed in, failing the run test on the first day of training camp.
Beginning in 2010, when they used the 18th overall pick on Pouncey — a new-age, (slightly) smaller, athletic center — the Steelers went all-in on revamping the line in order to best protect Ben Roethlisberger through the prime of his career. In 2011, they invested a second-round pick on Gilbert and the 24th overall pick on DeCastro a year later.
Indeed, the line has done a remarkable job of keeping their franchise QB relatively clean. Over the past three seasons, Roethlisberger has been sacked just 20 (2015), 17 (2016) and 21 (2017) times, the three fewest sack totals of his 16-year career.
But since 2012, the organization hasn't had a great need to draft linemen. They've drafted just three, including Chuks Okorafor, who they selected with one of their two third-round picks this spring.
The Steelers remain high on Okorafor, but he and Zach Banner, a massive but very raw second-year tackle, are still projects. They also are the only other offensive linemen on the 53-man roster. During Tuesday's practice, Patrick Morris, a practice squad member, was even taking first-team reps at Foster's spot.
"We have a couple people hurt but I feel no matter who's out there, they'll be able to get the job done," said Okorafor.
The Steelers can only hope so.
The line of Villanueva, Foster, Pouncey, DeCastro and Gilbert has, arguably, been the best in franchise history. But with Foster and Gilbert now on the other side of 30, and Villanueva joining them on Saturday, it does raise some legitimate concerns. Pouncey can be a free agent at the end of 2019, same as Gilbert.
As this week has shown, sooner rather than later, the Steelers will need to restock the cupboard.
