Well, whatever troubles the Steelers offensive line had just got worse as it was confirmed that starting right tackle Willie Colon tore his triceps muscle in the week one loss to the Ravens on Sunday. Colon will have surgery today and will be out for the season.
This is obviously a blow since Colon is one of the Steelers' top offensive linemen. However, if they can convince Flozell Adams or Max Starks to come back and fill the void, I don't think it will be a huge drop-off. Colon missed the entire 2010 season with an Achilles Heel injury and with the addition of Adams, the team never missed a beat.
However, if the Steelers have to promote from within to fill the role with back-up Chris Scott, rookie Marcus Gilbert, or even utility lineman Trai Essex, it could prove to be a problem.
In the span of about 36 hours, the Steelers went from having this air of invincibility after a fairly dominant preseason to getting destroyed by their biggest rival in week one and losing their starting right tackle for the entire 2011 season.
It's going to be interesting to see how the Steelers deal with a little early-season turmoil. It's still not time to panic just yet. As I said in my most recent post on Behind the Steel Curtain, it's not unsual for a team to take the kind of beating that the Steelers did in week one and go on to have a very successful season. Injuries are another matter. The Steelers overcame them last year. Let's see if they can do it again in 2011.
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