Pittsburgh Steelers: David DeCastro Knee Injury is Last Thing Ben Roethlisberger Needs

By Bear Heiser
Senior Writer

The Pittsburgh Steelers need quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to be upright to make a run this season, but that idea took a big hit Saturday night when rookie offensive guard David DeCastro was carted off the field after suffering a nasty knee injury.

Inside the Steelers’ own five-yard line, DeCastro was tied up with Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Marcell Dareus when right tackle Marcus Gilbert fell down onto his leg.

According to NFL.com, DeCastro “suffered injuries to his anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments and will be out awhile.”

Roethlisberger, who was only a few feet away when the injury occurred, was very frustrated at halftime.

“Well I just saw him, (and his) spirits are high,” Roethlisberger told NFL.com and NFL Network’s Kimberly Jones. “We don’t obviously know — well, I don’t know what the official word is. This is a great field, but it’s FieldTurf, and it’s just killing guys because they can’t get their feet out of the ground, and it’s just another reason we should get rid of FieldTurf.”

Injuries to both the ACL and MCL are very tough for offensive lineman to recover from, let alone any other position on the field. So it appears unlikely DeCastro will be back this season, but we won’t know more until an MRI is performed.

As far as next week’s game goes, Ramon Foster will probably get the start in DeCastro’s place.