Steelers special teams coordinator Danny Smith to get shoulder surgery after sideline collision

A veteran of almost a half century of standing on the sidelines as a coach, Danny Smith has accumulated quite the list of injuries via on-field collisions.

Asked which have been the most serious after a walkthrough at the Pittsburgh Steelers’ South Side facility Thursday, Smith had to pause and consider.

“Woooo,” the Steelers’ special teams coordinator said, looking to the ground in contemplation.

Smith was ready with an answer, though.

“I got hit in college in a Clemson-Georgia Tech game, got a tibial plateau fracture, got a plate and six screws in my knee. … I had that hit (at Steelers’) training camp with (Antonio Brown) when I broke my ribs and vertebrae in my back, my finger. That hurt.

“This one hurt. I’ve got a torn rotator cuff in three spots. But I am good.”

Excuse me? Did the septuagenarian Smith just say, of the incident during the final play of Sunday’s Steelers win against the Green Bay Packers, that it tore his rotator cuff?

“There’s four muscles in your rotator cuff,” Smith said, “and I tore three of them in half, and they’re off the bone.

“So it’s complicated. We will get through it and see what happens.”

Incomparable Steelers special teams coordinator Danny Smith tore his rotator cuff in the collision on the sidelines on the last play of Sunday’s game pic.twitter.com/77lsP0lb3Y

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) November 16, 2023

Five days after turning 70, Smith on Sunday was on his customary spot on the west (home) Acrisure Stadium sidelines among dozens of Steelers players when Damontae Kazee intercepted a Jordan Love pass just outside the goal line as time expired. Kazee attempted a return and made it just past the Steelers’ 30 yard-line when Green Bay tackle Zach Tom shoved him out of bounds — right into Smith.

Smith was thrown to the ground, landing on his right shoulder. A melee ensued in which players on both teams pushed and shoved.

“When I landed on my shoulder, it went numb, and I couldn’t get off the ground,” Smith said Thursday. “I got tramped on a couple times (including on his hand), but I couldn’t get off the ground. That was the problem. So I rolled over on my back, and, when I rolled over on my back, (backup tight end Rodney Williams) slid me out.”

Williams was playing in his fifth NFL game since being promoted from the practice squad last month and might have been due to be a Sunday inactive this week with the presumed activation of starting tight end Pat Freiermuth off injured reserve. Smith, though, quipped that Williams has forever endeared himself to him.

“He’s done a good job, and not only that but (after his assistance) I am gonna have a hard time sitting him down,” Smith said.

Danny Smith, a coach in his 60’s, got completely run over. He is a tough dude!! Gets up. Seems ok. Hope he is ????????. Players love this guy pic.twitter.com/LUUYLNIqlN

— Bob Pompeani (@KDPomp) November 13, 2023

Smith learned of his three-times torn rotator cuff via an MRI performed this week. Smith, who has run practices and reported for work this week as usual, said he will get surgery on his shoulder after the season.

“I have been hit a lot and hit hard,” Smith said of sideline incidents over a coaching career that began as a graduate assistant at alma mater Edinboro in 1976 and has spanned the past 29 consecutive years in the NFL. “I have a lot of metal in my body over that.

“I have to learn to get the (expletive) out of the way.”

A Central Catholic alumnus who joined the Steelers staff in 2013, Smith is known for demonstratively chewing a thick wad of gum during games.

While three ligaments were a casualty of Sunday’s collision, Smith was happy to report that the gum was not. It remained in his mouth.

“I should have stuck it on my shoulder,” Smith said. “I would have been better off.”

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