The Steelers enter the postseason with a season-ending knee injury to their top tailback, Rashard Mendenhall.
On Tuesday, the Steelers placed Mendenhall on injured reserve. His roster spot was filled not by another running back, but by a veteran cornerback.
Anthony Madison provides depth for a secondary that will be without one of its primary safeties in Denver, Ryan Clark. More than four years after losing his spleen, his gall bladder, and 30 pounds due to a blood reaction at altitude from a sickle-cell trait, Clark will not be playing when the Steelers return to Colorado for only the second time since then.
The Steelers currently have three running backs on the 53-man roster: Isaac Redman, Mewelde Moore, and John Clay. That’s as many running backs as the Steelers have on injured reserve.