Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers have promoted Tyler Murphy to their 53-man roster from their practice squad, we can now take our weekly shot at what the inactive list might look like on Sunday for the team’s Week 7 road game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Mike Vick – Vick was ruled out on Friday with a hamstring injury that he suffered in third quarter of last Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals, so he will undoubtedly be inactive on Sunday. Landry Jones is expected to start the game against the Chiefs with Murphy serving as the No. 2 quarterback.
Ben Roethlisberger – With Murphy now slated to be the No. 2 on Sunday, Roethlisberger should find himself on the inactive list for a fourth straight game. This will mark the first time during his career that Roethlisberger has missed four games in a row due to an injury. The Steelers starter did practice more this week than he did last week so the hope is that he will return from his left MCL injury next Sunday for the Steelers Week 8 home game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Stephon Tuitt – Tuitt was also official ruled out for the game against the Chiefs on Friday due to a knee sprain that he suffered last Sunday. In all likelihood, veteran Cam Thomas will start in Tuitt’s place at left defensive end with both Daniel McCullers and rookie L.T. Walton likely to see time in the defensive line rotation during the game.
Will Allen – Allen was also ruled out for the Chiefs game on Friday and this will mark the second straight game that he has missed due to the left ankle injury that he suffered in the Week 5 Monday night win over the San Diego Chargers. With Allen out, safety Robert Golden is expected to start again in his place.
Jesse James – James, the Steelers fifth-round draft pick this year, has yet to dress for a game this season and that’s unlikely to change on Sunday against the Chiefs.
Anthony Chickillo – With it looking like outside linebacker Jarvis Jones will return this week after missing last week’s game with a hip injury, Chickillo is likely to return to the inactive list this week. Even though he did dress last Sunday, Chickillo did not play a defensive snap against the Cardinals as he was relegated to only playing on special teams.
Terence Garvin – Garvin was added to the Steelers injury report as out with a knee injury late Saturday and that will likely result in Chickillo getting a helmet.
Byron Stingily – The Steelers are likely to have one offensive lineman on their Sunday inactive list and it’s really a coin-flip as to who that might be. However, being as Chris Hubbard said this past week that he received work during practice at tackle, I will venture a guess that the newly-signed Stingily will be the odd man out on Sunday. On Monday, Stingily was signed to roster to replace starting left tackle Kelvin Beachum, who was lost for the season to a torn left ACL last Sunday in the first half of the win over the Cardinals. If, however, Stingily is given a helmet on Sunday, I would look for Hubbard to be inactive.
The Steelers list of seven inactive players will be turned in 90 minutes before the kickoff of Sunday’s game.
