The Pittsburgh Steelers will have to try and move on without quarterback Kenny Pickett after a nightmarish loss to Arizona.
Pickett is out indefinitely after undergoing surgery to repair a high right ankle sprain on Monday. Mitch Trubisky will get the start on Thursday night when Pittsburgh (7-5) hosts New England (2-10).
Coach Mike Tomlin declined to get into specifics on how many games Pickett might miss. Pickett had been “managing” the injury recently according to Tomlin only to have it aggravated in the second quarter on Sunday when Cardinals defensive end Jonathan Ledbetter fell on Pickett’s legs at the end of a 2-yard scramble.
The injury is to Pickett’s right ankle. He missed multiple games during his 2020 season at the University of Pittsburgh after having surgery on his left ankle. Tomlin indicated the team doesn’t believe the current injury is “chronic” and is optimistic Pickett will return before the end of the regular season.
Sunday marked the sixth time since Pickett was moved to the starting job a month into the 2022 season that he’s lost playing time because of an injury, including three times this season alone.
With Pickett injured, the Steelers added Trace McSorley to their practice squad Monday.
• Pittsburgh inside linebacker Elandon Roberts and left guard Isaac Seumalo were both deemed questionable against the Patriots by Coach Mike Tomlin on Monday. Roberts injured his groin in the first half and did not return. Seumalo injured his shoulder and did not return.
If Roberts cannot play, Tomlin said veteran linebackers Blake Martinez and Myles Jack could be called upon this week. Martinez was signed two weeks ago off Carolina’s practice squad, but he didn’t dress for the past two games. Jack, who started 13 games for the Steelers last season, was signed to the practice squad two weeks ago.
The Steelers have been decimated by injuries at inside linebacker. Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander suffered season-ending injuries last month. Roberts had taken on the role of being the chief communicator for the defense after they were injured.
Now Tomlin is looking for Martinez and/or Jack to potentially step into that role on a short week. Martinez has started 78 games in the league. Like Jack, he also had retired at the end of last season.
EAGLES: Philadelphia signed three-time All-Pro linebacker Shaquille Leonard to a contract on Monday for the rest of the season.
Leonard should be available to play for the defending NFC champion Eagles (10-2) on Sunday night against Dallas. Leonard visited with both the Eagles and Cowboys after the Colts waived him late last month. He complained publicly about decreased playing time this season with the Colts. He could make an immediate impact for an Eagles team trying to get back to the Super Bowl.
Indianapolis took Leonard with the 36th overall draft pick in 2018. Leonard led the league with a franchise-record 163 tackles. He won the AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award in 2018.
TITANS: Tennessee Coach Mike Vrabel has fired special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman after the Titans had a punt blocked and returned for a touchdown followed by the punter suffering a season-ending injury on his next punt attempt.
Vrabel announced the rare in-season coaching change Monday with Tom Quinn taking over for the rest of this season.
The move comes after the Titans (4-8) lost second-year punter Ryan Stonehouse to an injured left leg. Vrabel said Stonehouse will need season-ending surgery, costing the Titans a punter who as a rookie set an NFL single-season record for gross yards per punt that had stood since 1940.
RATINGS: The Dallas Cowboys’ 41-35 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night set a record as the most-streamed game in NFL history as well as setting a new mark as the most-watched game on Amazon Prime Video.
The previous standard for both was the Sept. 14 game between the Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles. According to Nielsen and Amazon, the game averaged 15.26 million on Prime Video and on local broadcast stations in Seattle and Dallas. That surpassed the 15.1 million that watched Vikings-Eagles.
The streaming-only number was 11.1 million on Prime Video, Twitch and NFL+. The old mark was 10.4 million.
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