Steelers CB Suffers Knee Injury

TAMPA, Florida —  Steelers slot cornerback Duke Dawson suffered a potentially serious left knee injury. It occurred on a pass breakup where Dawson planted to make a pass breakup but his knee buckled. He could not put any weight on the knee as he was coming off the field.

Dawson is the third player to get injured and leave the game with an injury. Keeanu Benton suffered an ankle injury and Chapelle Russell suffered a knee injury earlier in the game. Dawson’s injury, however, seems to be the most severe injury of them all.

With the Broncos, Dawson suffered a torn ACL in 2020. In his NFL career, he has suffered a number of injuries that have limited the former second-rounder from being available on the football field consistently.

The Steelers are missing rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr., who is not playing a left ankle injury. Porter Jr. suffered the injury last Saturday and was seen having the injury wrapped. But he did not practice on Sunday. Then, Porter Jr. ended up only being limited on Wednesday after practicing in full on Tuesday,

Multiple top veteran players are not playing. Minkah Fitzpatrick, T.J. Watt, Larry Ogunjobi, Patrick Peterson, and Cam Heyward will all not suit up for the game. The Buccaneers are not playing any of their defensive starters, and  Pittsburgh is largely following that model.

Tre Norwood (right calf), John Lovett (undisclosed), Keanu Neal (undisclosed), and Damontae Kazee (left ankle) are all not playing as well. That means that Kenny Robinson and Miles Killebrew started at safety, with others such as Trenton Thompson and Jalen Elliott should receive plenty of reps to rev up their chances at cracking the active roster or practice squad.

Alan Saunders provided reporting from Tampa.