“Next man up” is an evergreen football concept, from the WPIAL-area high school programs up through the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sundays. Proof of that came in Week 2 for the Steelers, when Devin Bush and Joe Haden were ruled out before the team’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders, and then Tyson Alualu and T.J. Watt were lost to injuries during the contest.
The linebacker position was the only level of Pittsburgh’s defense to undergo a pair of losses, first to Bush as the team’s top middle linebacker, and then to Watt, the team’s top rusher off the edge.