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sports Diamars 16 November 2021

Washington confirms Chase Young’s injury is season-ending

(AP) - Chase Young will
not play the rest of this
season after injuring his
right leg.
Washington coach Ron Ri-
vera confirmed the prognosis
for Young on Monday in the
wake of the reigning Defen-
sive Rookie of the Year going
down during the first half of
an upset of defending Super
Bowl champion Tampa Bay.

Rivera did not reveal wheth-
er Young tore the ACL in his
right knee. Washington said
Sunday that Young left the
game with a knee injury. rest of the year. the grass, wincing and writh- Young declined to get on and his arms on the shoulders
ing around on the ground for be driven off, instead mo- of two people for support
The 2020 No. 2 pick fin- The edge rusher got hurt a bit, all the while keeping his tioning for teammate Bran- while he limped off. He gave
ishes his second NFL sea- Sunday while trying to get right leg straight. don Scherff to give him a teammates a speech of en-
son with 1 1/2 sacks. Rookie past left tackle Donovan hand to help stand up. couragement at halftime and
Shaka Toney is among the Smith in order to pressure After Young was checked returned to the sideline on
pass rushers who will fill in Buccaneers quarterback Tom by team trainers, a cart was Young then headed toward crutches later.
for Young at Carolina and the Brady. Young ended up on driven out onto the field. But the locker room, draping

What next? Steelers’ defense struggling with consistency

(AP) — The Pittsburgh Steelers jured defensive linemen Stephon Tu- have to be a lot better. Every one of in the mirror ... but today was unac-
have very little margin for error, itt and Tyson Alualu most of all. us, we just have to look at each other ceptable.”
no matter who is at quarterback.
Alualu’s season is over. Tuitt’s may
Ben Roethlisberger, Mason Rudolph, never start as he recovers from off-
halfway through the season, the only season knee surgery. The fill-ins had
consistent thing about the Steelers’ played well at times before Sunday.
offense is that it is not going to score They did not against Detroit. Save
30 points and most weeks, 20 may be for another brilliant performance by
asking a lot. Cam Heyward, the defense did little
to offer proof it can consistently pick
All of which is manageable if Pitts- up the slack if the offense continues
burgh’s defense plays at the level to be wildly uneven.
that’s been the standard during most
of coordinator Keith Butler’s tenure. “We have to get off blocks, stay in
our gaps, and drive our feet,” Hey-
Five times in Butler’s six seasons the ward said. “Early on, myself includ-
Steelers have finished in the top 12 in ed, I missed a couple of tackles. But
yards and points allowed. That might it came down to a tie game and we
not happen in 2021. And if it doesn’t, needed some big plays, and we didn’t
whatever chance Pittsburgh has of get enough.”
reaching the playoffs likely vanishes.
Now Pittsburgh faces a daunting sec-
That wasn’t Kansas City or Tennes- ond half of the schedule without one
see or Baltimore — all of whom await of the best players in the league. Star
the Steelers (5-3-1) over the next two outside linebacker T.J. Watt crumpled
months — on the other side of the to the ground in the third quarter af-
field on Sunday at lifeless and soggy ter sacking Goff. He watched the fi-
Heinz Field. It was the Detroit Lions. nal two-plus quarters from the side-
line in a massive black coat with what
Over the course of 70 minutes of head coach Mike Tomlin described as
an occasionally comical 16-16 tie, hip and knee injuries.
Detroit gashed the Steelers for 229
yards rushing. The Lions did it with Watt’s status going forward — at least
quarterback Jared Goff basically a by- in the near term — appears uncer-
stander thanks to shoddy pass protec- tain. So does Pittsburgh’s. While the
tion and a strained oblique. They did AFC North suddenly looks gettable
it with De’Andre Swift putting up a for whoever emerges from what is a
career-best 130 yards rushing. They wide-open and currently mediocre
did it with Godwin Igwebuike — a race, if the Steelers are to be a part of
converted safety — bolting up the the conversation the defense needs to
middle for a 42-yard touchdown. re-establish itself.
They did it with Jermar Jefferson do-
ing the same on a 28-yard sprint to Quickly.
the end zone.
“It’s about whipping a man and mak-
Pittsburgh missed tackles, missed ing a tackle,” outside linebacker Alex
assignments and perhaps missed in- Highsmith said. “We know that we