The Pittsburgh Steelers lost their preseason opener to the Washington Redskins, 16-7, Friday night at FedEx Field in Landover, Md., but they also lost starting cornerback Ike Taylor with a broken left thumb during the first series.
Steelers President Art Rooney II revealed the injury during a halftime interview on KDKA-TV, which broadcast the game locally. It isn’t known if Taylor will miss the remaining preseason games or even be ready by the regular-season opener Sept. 11 at Baltimore, but the Steelers return to training camp practices Sunday at Saint Vincent College near Latrobe, Pa.
But one thing is certain, the Steelers are now super thin at a position that wasn’t too deep to begin with, as starting corner Bryant McFadden, rookie draft picks Curtis Brown and Cortez Allen and second-year pro Crezdon Butler already have missed nearly two weeks in camp with hamstring injuries. Butler returned late this week to play in the game.
But the only two healthy cornerbacks now are William Gay, who started for McFadden, and third-year pro Keenan Lewis, who replaced Taylor. Safety Ryan Clark also left early with a stinger and did not return, but he’ll be fine.
Safety Troy Polamalu also did not play, while safety Will Allen was a late scratch. So, the secondary was seriously deficient from the outset and weakened considerably more shortly after that. Ryan Mundy started for Polamalu and was consistently torched for big yardage.
Outside linebacker James Harrison also did not play, and second-year pro Jason Worilds started for him at right outside linebacker.
