Thursday, November 29th, 2007 by Adam Wagner
Steelers must cope with injury troubles
Yesterday, the Steelers placed fullback Dan Kreider on injured reserve with a knee injury,
ending his season and maybe his career as a Steeler. There was some question as to whether or not Kreider would see playing time under Mike Tomlin at the beginning of the year, but the eight-year veteran saw a solid amount of time despite the increased presence of Carey Davis. Davis, who is more of a running back/fullback combo is probably the “fullback” of the future, but Kreider is more of the smashmouth fullback that the Steelers’ running game is predicated on.
They will miss him, but not too much. The absence of Kreider means that Willie Parker will have to be without one of his most trusted blockers, but it also means that the Steelers will be able to continue their transition to a faster style of offense.
Last Monday, the Steelers played without Marvel Smith, Santonio Holmes, Troy 
Polamalu, Ryan Clark, or Jerame Tuman. There are four players on that list that are absolutely vital to the success of the team (Smith, Holmes, Polamalu, and Clark). Yes, the line will be bad with or without Marvel Smith, but it will be much better with him. Holmes is the best wide receiver that the Steelers have and is the only legitimate deep threat on the team. Polamalu, despite being overaggressive recently, is one of the best defensive players in football. And Ryan Clark is the type of security blanket that every team needs, filling in admirably at whatever the Steelers ask him to do.
Without Tuman, Kreider, or Clark for the rest of the year, the Steelers will have to play with unproven options at backup tight end (important on passing downs or on goal line plays), fullback, or full safety. That many potential holes does not bode well for them, even though they seem to have backups galore at many of the positions, with Jon Dekker, Carey Davis and Anthony Smith all seeing more playing time.
The Steelers can absolutely not afford to have anyone else go down on Sunday, especially heading into a major showdown with New England next weekend. If that means sitting Polamalu, Holmes, and other vital players at some point against Cincinnatti this weekend. The Steelers should be hoping against hopes for a blowout, but may be in for a close game against a Bengals team that somehow managed to not look like the Bungels last week.
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