CLEVELAND — Aaron Rodgers was a man of few words after Sunday’s loss to the Cleveland Browns. But the Pittsburgh Steelers’ veteran quarterback uttered nine succinct yet telling words in reaction to the loss of tight end Darnell Washington to injury.
“Darnell,” Rodgers said, “is a big part of what we do.”
Washington suffered a broken arm, coach Mike Tomlin said, during Sunday’s 13-6 defeat to the Browns.
Washington had two catches for 15 yards late in the first quarter during a drive that provided half of the Steelers’ points Sunday. He initially was ruled “questionable” to return because of a forearm injury, but it wasn’t long thereafter that the Steelers announced him as out for the remainder of the game.
Already without their top two wide receivers for the game — DK Metcalf is serving a two-game suspension, and Calvin Austin III has a hamstring injury — losing Washington was another blow. Those three had 117 of the team’s 313 catches, ranking second, sixth and seventh on the team.
“We get challenged with the attrition component all the time,” Tomlin said. “We make no excuses regarding that. We have capable men. We adapt, adjust and we keep moving.”