Pittsburgh Steelers: What Aaron Smith’s Injury Means For the Defense

October 24, 2010   ·   Tom Dale   ·   Jump to comments

The Steelers walked out of Miami today with a 23-22 victory, but may have left one of its most important parts of the defense in the whirlpool. Defensive end Aaron Smith suffered what NFL.com has characterized as a torn triceps muscle, which will most likely keep Smith out for the remainder of the season.
This is bad news for a defense that up to this point in the season had been very lucky to remain injury-free. Should this be a season-ending injury, it may very well be the end of the road for the 12-year veteran.
Weighing into that decision would most likely be the fact that he suffered another season-ending shoulder injury during Week 5 of last season.
Smith is backed up by second-year player and 2009's first-round draft choice Ziggy Hood. Hood is a capable replacement but is still developing and is not going to be the force, particularly in the pass-rush, that Smith had been.
While the injury to Smith last year was compounded by the loss of strong safety Troy Po...

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