The Steelers began their preparations for Saturday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, with injuries once again dominating the conversation. Because the team conducted a walkthrough, the report is only an estimate.
This week’s game has playoff ramifications for the Steelers, and with so much at stake, having a healthy squad is critical.
Linebacker Elandon Roberts (pectoral) was already ruled out before the week of practice began a week ago, but the outlook for Roberts is a little better this week, despite the fact that he did not practice on Tuesday.
“Elandon Roberts, we’ll play day-by-day and see where it leads us in terms of his availability,” Mike Tomlin, the head coach, said.
And he’s not the only one in that situation.
Safeties Minkah Fitzpatrick (knee) and Trenton Thompson (neck), who both missed Sunday’s game against the Seahawks, are also out. Fitzpatrick was noted as not having practiced.
“Same with Minkah and Trenton Thompson, don’t really know where we are right now,” Tomlin went on to say. “I’d be guessing.
“We’ll start with partial participation on all three and assess the quality of their participation, which may increase or decrease based on what we see on a daily basis.”
We’ll go about our business as usual this week.”
T.J. Watt was injured against the Seahawks but returned to action, and Tomlin didn’t have an update on the defensive player of the year candidate when he talked.
“T.J. got hurt late in the game,” Tomlin explained. “I hadn’t seen him since Monday.” Don’t expect it to be a problem. It could be a concern early in the week, but I don’t think it would threaten his participation.”
Watt stated that he will be ready on Saturday following practice.
Kenny Pickett (ankle) could be available at quarterback, but Coach Mike Tomlin is sticking with Mason Rudolph as the starter after he guided the team to straight victories.
Kenny’s availability should be less of a concern this week. “I expect him to be available for practice,” Tomlin added. “Having said that, we’re going to put the ball in Mason Rudolph’s hands.” He did a good job, and we did a good job in the last two weeks. We took care of the ball. He took care of the ball. We were scoring points at a rate that we hadn’t done all year. We’re going to leave the ball in his hands because of the urgency of the situation and for those reasons.”
Pickett was cleared to play against Seattle, according to Tomlin, but it was late in the week, so he was inactive. He was classified as a full-time employee.
“That clarity came later in the week, and it was about the distribution of reps and who was best prepared and positioned to help us win,” Tomlin said. “And so, that’s the direction that we went with.”
Pickett discussed the subject on Tuesday, noting that as a competitor, he wants to play and explaining why he did not suit up against Seattle.
“If I was healthy enough to play and the coaches and trainers felt I looked good enough, I was going to start,” Pickett said. “If they didn’t believe I was, which they didn’t, I wasn’t going to dress or suit up for the game.” I’m not sure where it started, but it’s kind of crazy what people describe.