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I just heard Aaron Smith has a "potentially significant" shoulder injury. IMO this would be a huge loss for the Steelers if he is out for an extended amount of time. He is such an underrated player in a 3-4 defense where the D-line is so crucial to its success. The backup DE's are rookie Ziggy Hood, Nick Eason, and Travis Kirschke which is a huge falloff from Smith. Think back to 2007 when the Steelers lost Smith with a torn bicep muscle...the Steelers struggled to win down the stretch losing 3 out of the last 4 and were ousted by the Jags in the wild card. The D got torched in these games. It looks Polamalu will be back which will definitely help the D, but I think the loss of Aaron Smith would be huge. Hopefully he's not out long...

Smith was the latest in the bad list of injuries for the Steelers that year. Clark and Polamalu were both out. That had more to do with the D's problems than Aaron Smith's being gone.

Kirschke, Hoke and Hood will all be effective on the D-line. They won't be able to replace him, but rotating those 3 when needed will help. Remember, in the Steelers defensive scheme the linemen just need to take up blockers and let the 4 LB's run wild and make plays. They're not as key of players as Justin Tuck is to the NY Giants.

With Polamalu coming back the defense will be a lot more dynamic than without him because he can do so many things...the secondary is more dimesional with him and will give opposing offenses more to think about.
DE's job in a 3-4 is to take on and absorb the blocks and stop the run by letting the pass rushers get in the holes and to the QB. There is a reason Aaron Smith has been a Pittsburgh Steeler his whole career and why Steelers coaches say he may possibly be the best in the game. He arguably does his role better than any DE in the league, he just doesn't get the credit that other DE's do because he doesn't get the huge stats in this system...and a big reason the Steelers had the #1 defense in the league last year...Chris Hoke is more of a nosetackle than an end, Ziggy Hood is a rookie with barely any experience, Nick Eason was cut and resigned this year, and Travis Kirschke has spent most of his career on special teams. I'm not saying the season is over by any means, but this is a bigger loss than most people probably think.

I agree completely. And you completely regurgitated what I said about the DL's role in the 3-4 system. Don't look @ the 2007 season and put it solely on the loss of Aaron Smith. Polamalu and Clark were both out toward the end of the year, and when Polamalu was back, they said he was only near 50%.

Losing Smith is an ordeal for the Steelers this year, but it's nothing like losing Polamalu, any of the LB'ers or even losing a guy like Holmes and Ward off the offense. They drafted Hood to take over for Smith when that time came. That time was rapidly approaching before. That time is now.