Shazier Injury, Dirty Hits Cast Dark Shadow over Steelers' MNF Win vs. Bengals

There are jarring, potentially season-altering injuries in the NFL on a near weekly basis—especially in 2017, with the ever-expanding list of Pro Bowl-caliber players on injured reserve.

But what happened Monday night to Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier went beyond the scoreboard, the playoff race and even the sport in a game that still had over three quarters remaining.

What happened to Shazier was a football injury that went beyond football.

Early in the first quarter of a game the Steelers won 23-20 against the Cincinnati Bengals, Shazier lunged forward to make a tackle after Andy Dalton completed a checkdown pass to wide receiver Josh Malone. Shazier was well positioned to defend a dump-off, but as Malone secured the ball and turned, Shazier's momentum carried him into his target's hip head-first.

Shazier's head recoiled as he fell to the ground, with his body going limp. He moved his arms, and his first instinct was to grab his back.

He rolled over, then he began rapidly flexing his right hand. Everything was working normally there, too. But his legs didn't move at any point—not when he was on the ground, and not when the medical crew loaded Shazier onto a backboard to cart him off the field.

The first reports didn't offer much, with NFL Network's Ian Rapoport relaying that Shazier left the stadium in an ambulance.

As the game wore on, there was concern and urgency directed toward any update on Shazier's condition, and the outcome of a late-season game with playoff implications became an afterthought. But no such update came, despite the best efforts of NFL Network's Aditi Kinkhabwala, who "begged" Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert for anything—anything at all.

Then when the game entered the fourth quarter, Kinkhabwala speculated that Shazier was likely still undergoing tests and that the hospital wasn't ready to release information publicly:

Hope and encouraging news didn't trickle down until much later.

Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that multiple players called Shazier's injury a spinal contusion. As Bouchette also noted, the injury could be similar to the one suffered by former Steelers quarterback Tommy Maddox in 2002. He missed two games.

There's a thick book of football cliches, and the most common deal with the reality of a vicious, violent game. We often hear coaches, players and fans talk about the "next man up" attitude that's ingrained in the sport.

There is nothing dark or sinister intended by those words that teams live by and repeat throughout a season. They outline a central, motivating principle: that no one man defines a team and that the goal of driving toward a championship remains in place regardless of who just limped off.

On a deeper level, however, the focus on the next fresh body is a mental wall. It helps players to stay locked in without letting the brutal, perhaps life-changing nature of football injuries creep into their minds.

But there's only so much of the human element that can be removed. That was clear when fellow Steelers linebacker Vince Williams was seen crying on the sideline. And it was clear when the Steelers seemed listless for much of the first half. They trailed 17-0 late in the half, which was the first time Pittsburgh had faced a deficit of 15-plus points against the Bengals since 1999.

The Steelers still prevailed, climbing from that deep hole by outscoring the Bengals 20-3 in the second half. But in the process, they seemed to forget the pain they felt while their teammate was carted off.

Or at least wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster seemed to forget. He created a poster for what the NFL—a league trying to shed a barbaric image with an emphasis on safety—wants to avoid.