Steelers’ QB Dixon Done For The Year

Added on Oct 02, 2010 by Jason Kearney in

NFL

After learning that injured quarterback Dennis Dixon could be out for as long as six weeks following arthroscopic knee surgery the Pittsburgh Steelers have decided to shut him down for the year. Dixon has been placed on the injured reserve list and isn’t expected to return this season. Dixon injured the knee in the Steelers’ win over the Tennessee Titans on September 19th and at the time there was a good deal of optimism that his injury wasn’t particularly serious. Coach Mike Tomlin even suggested after that game that Dixon could have re-entered the game if necessary:

“He potentially could have come back in, handed the ball off to finish the game and so forth if that provides you any type of information.”

Dixon didn’t even sound particularly concerned:

“It was one of my runs that I had. I planted wrong, and it didn’t feel right after that. Better safe than sorry.”

Dixon had his knee scoped the following week, and the initial prognosis was a two week layoff. With Ben Roethlisberger set to come off of suspension after this weekend’s game and Byron Leftwich nearly ready to return, the Steelers saw no reason to put Dixon’s longterm well being at risk.

The bad news for Dixon is, however, good news for Charlie Batch. The expectation had been that Batch would be released upon Roethlisberger’s return but will now likely be kept around as the #3 quarterback. Defensive tackle Steve McLendon was signed off of the practice squad to fill Dixon’s vacant roster spot. Ironically, Byron Leftwich was temporarily ‘released’ last weekend to allow the Steelers to dress another DT for their game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.