With six games remaining in the Pittsburgh Steelers season, defensive end Stephon Tuitt already has established a career high with seven sacks.

Tuitt won’t get a chance to add to his total Tuesday against the Baltimore Ravens — and perhaps not in Week 13 against Washington — courtesy of his placement on the reserve/covid-19 list Friday.

Tuitt had played a career-high 81% of the defensive snaps through the Steelers’ 10-0 start. He will be joined in isolation by backup defensive lineman Isaiah Buggs, who has one start among his seven appearances in his second NFL season.

They are among five players on the reserve/covid-19 list for the Steelers.

Chris Wormley could replace Tuitt in the base defense, with Cameron Heyward and nose tackle Tyson Alualu serving as the down linemen in subpackages. Henry Mondeaux and Carlos Davis also could see playing time in the rotation

“We’re going to utilize all the players at our disposal,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “We will distribute those reps among the group. The strength of the pack will be the pack in that regard. You talk about a guy like Tuitt and the impact he makes. It’s not a one-man job. It’s an all-man job.”

The Steelers also will be without starting running back James Conner, who was placed on the reserve/covid-19 list Saturday. Benny Snell will start in place of Conner, the eighth-leading rusher in the NFL with 645 yards. Snell rushed for 113 yards on 19 carries after Conner was injured in the season opener.

Snell, though, has gotten just 15 carries over the past five games.

“I have no reservation about Benny Snell as a featured runner,” Tomlin said.

Rookie Anthony McFarland Jr. will be the top backup, and the Steelers likely will call up former West Virginia running back Wendell Smallwood from the practice squad.

Scouting chore

The Steelers will face a team that has 22 players on the reserve/covid-19 list, including the Ravens’ starting quarterback, tight end and fullback, two running backs, four offensive linemen, six defensive linemen, two linebackers, three safeties, the third-string quarterback and long snapper.

It’s certainly not an ideal situation for the Ravens, and it can make it challenging for the Steelers in terms of scouting their opponent.

Tomlin is prepared to deal with what he knows about the Ravens rather than the unknowns.

“We’re preparing for the schematics, meaning the structure of which they operate, the plays that they run, the personality that they have,” Tomlin said Sunday. “I’m sure as they infuse players in, those things will be unchanging. We’re comfortable with our level of preparedness and our ability to prepare based on those things.”

Fully stocked

Don’t expect Tomlin to encounter the same scenario as Denver counterpart Vic Fangio, whose four quarterbacks were on the reserve/covid-19 list Sunday, which prompted the Broncos to start practice squad wide receiver Kendall Hinton under center.

“We keep people separate,” Tomlin said when asked how to avoid an entire position group being decimated by covid-19 testing. “We work virtually. We meet virtually. We work our tails off to social distance so that we’re not caught up in such circumstances.”

The Steelers have reinforcements in several special teams areas in case of an outbreak. They have kept a punter on the 16-man practice squad the entire season and recently brought back long snapper Christian Kuntz of Chartiers Valley and Duquesne to the practice squad.

But what about kicker, the only position on the roster without a backup? Tomlin said the Steelers have that covered, too.

“When you work on a short week, you work somebody out,” he said. “You have somebody in the (covid-19) protocol, so if called upon, you can call on them like we did in preparation for this week when we thought it was going to be a Thursday game.”

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