The Pittsburgh Steelers first preseason game of the 2014 season will take place Saturday night against the New York Giants and head coach Mike Tomlin said Thursday during his press conference that he’s not ready to rule out any of the injured players for the game just yet.
Tomlin said that he will leave the light on for nose tackle Steve McLendon (concussion) linebacker Jarvis Jones (groin), linebacker Ryan Shazier (knee), wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey (concussion), linebacker Jordan Zumwalt (groin) and tight end Rob Blanchflower.
The good news with Heyward-Bey, Zumwalt and Blanchflower is that all three are back on the field practicing. Tomlin didn’t know, however, if Shazier would be able to practice Thursday as he had yet to talk to the training staff.
Tomlin was later asked if players needed to work Thursday in order to play against the Giants Saturday night and said that didn’t necessarily need to happen.
“I’m always the-healthy-guys-play type of a coach,” said Tomlin. “The preseason is very necessary to develop regular season readiness and cohesion, and the only way to do that is to play. I’ve been the same dating back to 2007 in that regard. If they’re deemed healthy and ready to play, I’d just as soon get that first play out of the way so we can move on with the process.”
