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Cam Heyward's Emotional Response to the Absence of Stephon Tuitt

The Pittsburgh Steelers captain defends the absence of his teammate.

Noah Strackbein

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The Pittsburgh Steelers missed two of their three starting defensive linemen throughout the season with the absence of Stephon Tuitt and Tyson Alualu. And as the season comes to a close, the biggest question is "what if?"

Alualu's season ended after a fractured ankle in Week 2 that required surgery. For Tuitt, he dealt with a knee injury, which placed him on Injured Reserve throughout the season, and the loss of his brother prior to training camp. 

From the outside looking in, the potential seemed much higher before the loss of the two starters. For their teammates, however, there's no issues with the time either missed. 

Defensive captain Cam Heyward was asked about the "what if" during his postgame press conference in Kansas City. And with a tear in his eye, he defended his "brothers" on the defensive line. 

"I will never do a what if," Heyward said. "My brother has dealt with a lot this year, off the field and I will never question them. Those dudes have paved the way for me. Tyson has dedicated his life. He came back here from Jacksonville. I was blowing him up every single day telling him he made the wrong mistake and he came back here. 

"My brother has been hurting all year and it breaks my heart that I didn’t get to be with him. That did give a chance to guys like Chris Wormley and Isaiahh Loudermilk and Montravius Adams and Henry Mondeaux to grow. I don’t know what the future holds for guys, but I am with those guys. I mean it. I love those guys. You will never hear me talk one bad word about those guys because I care about those guys too much."

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Noah Strackbein
NOAH STRACKBEIN

Noah is the Publisher for All Steelers, Inside the Panthers (InsideThePanthers.com) and Inside the Penguins (InsidethePenguins.com), and is the host of All Steelers Talk (YouTube.com/AllSteelersTalk). A Scranton native, Noah made his way to the Pittsburgh sports scene in 2017. Now, he's pretty much full-yinzer.

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