Hobbling along...

Just as we were about to get Troy Polamalu back, by far our most valuable defensive back, we lose Aaron Smith to a shoulder injury that could keep him sidelined the rest of the season. The coaches have a tough decision to make. Put Smith on the IR or hope to have him back by January in time for the playoffs?

The question is, can we even make the playoffs without Smith?

The last time Smith missed game time due to injury was in 2007. He missed four games -- one of in the playoffs -- and we lost three of those. The only game we won was against the lonesome Rams.

Up until Smith's injury, the Steelers' defense was allowing a tremendous 245 yards per game. Once Smith went down, we allowed 357 yards average in the final three regular season games. Not only that, but we could hardly contain any running back. Fred Taylor stomped over us for 147 yards, Steven Jackson busted 85 yards, and Cory Ross along with Musa Smith combined for a total 155 yards rushing. Neither of those two is playing in the NFL anymore.

The defense did step it up statistically in the playoffs when we contained Jacksonville to 246 yards, but they still ended up beating us with 31 points (to be fair, 7 points were on a pick-six).

When Smith was healthy, the Steelers allowed an average of 14.5 points per game. Once he was out, they allowed roughly 28 points a game.

The players who will rotate in and out to replace Smith this year will be Travis Kirshke, Nick Eason and our first-round pick, Evander (Ziggy) Hood. Tomlin said Hood is not ready to handle the role by himself. The first two, Kirshke and Eason, were the same players who replaced Smith in 2007, but they have improved their play noticeably since then.

Part of me is excited to see what Hood can do in the role, but I'm not ready to face teams like Baltimore and Minnesota without a solid and proven Smith to plug in their rushing attacks or create lanes for our linebackers.