Welcome to the terrible take, a daily segment telling Steeler Nation what's on our minds.

I'm Melanie Freelander.

Heading into a division matchup against the Cleveland Browns on Monday night football,

the Steelers will be without defensive tackle,

Cam Hayward, the anchor and truly the heart of the defense.

With the defensive co-captain, a three times all pro-pro bowl selection,

going to injured reserve for the next two months, the Steelers

need to find a way to fill that very significant void. We're all familiar with

head coach Mike Tomlin's concept of next man up. Speaking to the media last Wednesday, second-year defensive end

to Marvin Leal described it as Next Generation Up. And that may be indeed the

theme in week two. By definition, social generations are cohorts of people born in the same date range and who share similar cultural experiences.

According to Pew research, a typical generation spans 15 to 18 years, separating people into groups of similarly

aged individuals.

If you go by date of birth, veteran Canham Hayward is a millennial, and Lial is part of Gen Z.

So the younger player is technically correct

when he references the clear difference in age

between the two defensive linemen.

For years, the Steelers had a habit

of keeping rookies on the bench,

especially when it came to defensive players.

In 2011, rookie Cam Hayward played only 194 defensive snaps,

with a majority of them coming in weeks four and 14

...