The Pittsburgh Steelers took a tough loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football, and it was their defense that let them down. In the fourth quarter, the Packers scored 21 points, which ultimately won them the game after the Steelers' offense couldn't keep up.
To make things worse, Daniel Ekuale went down with an injury during the game, and the Steelers got some bad news on his diagnosis the day after, according to NFL Network's Mike Garafolo.
“Steelers DL Daniel Ekuale tore his ACL last night in the loss to the Packers, sources tell me and [Ian Rapoport]. A tough blow for the team and the seventh-year veteran,” Garafolo wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Ekuale suffered the injury on the first play of the Packers' drive in the second quarter, which resulted in Jordan Love not completing his pass. He stayed down on the field until the medical staff came out to check on him. Ekuale was able to walk off on his own power and went to the medical tent.
The Steelers will now have to find a way to replace Ekuale, whom they signed during the offseason on a one-year deal. So far this season, he has recorded six tackles on 72 snaps on defense.
Outside of Ekuale, the Steelers' defense has not performed on the level that they usually hold themselves to, and head coach Mike Tomlin was honest after their loss to the Packers.
“We all have to own it. Certainly, you start with the schematics, man, because that's the leadership component of it, and certainly we'll be looking at everything that we're doing, man,” Tomlin said. “Because some of these problems are somewhat repetitive and we're not getting better fast enough.”
The Steelers have too much talent on defense for them to be underwhelming, and the hope is that they can figure it out soon so they can get back to winning.
