Steelers' biggest Week 1 weapon now compromised for the rest of the season

This was the ugliest part of a pretty ugly game played inside on Sunday afternoon. Late in the contest, Pittsburgh Steelers punter Cameron Johnston suffered a season-ending knee injury after Atlanta Falcons wide receiver KhaDarel Hodge was blocked, or better yet thrown, into him on another brilliant punt. It was one of those plays where you just knew Johnston's season was over immediately.

It was a frustrating game for both teams for a myriad of reasons. Pittsburgh was held out of the end zone the entire afternoon. Justin Fields was able to make some plays with his arms and legs, but looked like a quarterback who his former team gave up on. Atlanta got less-than-satisfactory quarterback play out of the veteran Kirk Cousins coming off the worst injury of his NFL career.

Without question, the two biggest stars for the Steelers were outside linebacker T.J. Watt and placekicker Chris Boswell, with defensive back DeShon Elliott a distant third. While Watt was the ultimate disruptor wreaking havoc in the Atlanta backfield all afternoon, it was Boswell who propelled the Steelers to victory with his six made field goals. Guess who is going to need a new holder now?

Pittsburgh has plenty of room to grow and build off its 18-10 road victory, but this is a huge problem.

Pittsburgh cannot afford to be anything less than stellar on special teams during this season.

Pittsburgh Steelers lose a crucial part of their offense already in Week 1

Look. I understand that Pittsburgh will be able to sign a punter very quickly out of necessity. While Johnston is more than serviceable, his injury is all about limiting the offense in so many ways. When the Steelers need to punt, who are they going to trust to pin the opposition back deep in their own territory? More importantly, where would they have been without the accurate right leg of Boswell?

You do realize what I am saying, right? By taking away a special teams player who does multiple things for this team, you are getting worse across the board. The punts may not go as far or be as accurate. Boswell may not have the chemistry necessary with his new holder to kick 50-plus-yard bombs on the road in tough environments. Maybe Johnston's absence effects the Steelers on kickoffs as well?

In short, the Steelers are going from a certain top-32 punter and holder in the game today in favor of someone who is probably less than. Of course, Johnston is better than the 32nd best at what he does, but you get the point in all of this, right? Pittsburgh is not going to light up the scoreboard most weeks. They will win with defense, but you have to wonder if they can still win with special teams?

It is early enough in the season to adapt, but nobody could have foreseen this type of injury occuring.