He rushed for 907 yards and 11 touchdowns while adding an additional dimension with 313 receiving yards on 33 catches.
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Williams, who did not practice all week, was ruled out Friday after the Steelers practiced for the final time before departing for Cincinnati.
Williams suffered an ankle injury in the Steelers regular season finale against the Cleveland Browns and had to be helped off the field before being carted into the locker room. He could return to the Steelers lineup the following week, if Pittsburgh wins.
Like previous year, Pittsburgh will rely on unheralded backups in the wild-card round, namely Fitzgerald Toussaint and Jordan Todman for Saturday.
It’s unclear who is going to be the starting running back, but the Steelers need to have a threat of a running game to have success in the playoffs. With starting running back DeAngelo Williams’ right foot…
“You might play a little more to guys’ strengths, but again I think they’re both pretty well-rounded guys”, Haley said.
Toussaint replaced Williams in the game and ran for 24 yards on 12 carries.
This seems similar to last year’s Steelers wild-card game, when they had to play without running back Le’Veon Bell. League fined five players total of $118,649 for infractions during game. Pittsburgh got Williams as a bargain in free agency for $2 million, and he has indeed proved to be worth every penny. Making it even more of a loss is the next two guys on the Steelers’ running back roster are very green.
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“Just go out there and play hard and play physical and just go hunt”, Toussaint said.
