During his Tuesday press conference, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin hinted that injured veteran cornerback Ike Taylor might play Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons and he even went as far as throw out the possibility of him lining up against all-everything wide receiver Julio Jones.
“We’ll roll the ball out be prepared to play this week. Maybe we’ll match him up against Julio, maybe we won’t,” said Tomlin.
As far as Taylor goes, he didn’t sound like he expects to be 100% recovered from the shoulder and knee injuries that he suffered Sunday during his weekly talk with John Harris on Trib Live Radio. You can watch and listen to that portion of the interview below and judge for yourself.
If Taylor isn’t ready to start and contribute Sunday, the Steelers might be forced to play either Brice McCain or Antwon Blake opposite William Gay against the Falcons. If that winds up being the case, one would think that Gay would be asked to follow Jones around in the game.
Jones’ status for Sunday’s game, however, is still up in the air as the current league-leader in receiving yardage suffered a hip injury in the fourth quarter of the Monday night loss to the Green Bay Packers. Jones, who never returned to that game, looked to be an obvious pain on the Falcons sideline, so his status will have to watched very closely as the week progresses.
Even without Jones, the Falcons still have very capable receivers in Roddy White, Harry Douglas, Devin Hester and Eric Weems. In fact, only Hester failed to register a catch and a score Monday night against the Packers.
