The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered a few more injuries during their Sunday win over the Cincinatti Bengals and on Tuesday head coach Mike Tomlin updated the status of those few players in addition to those who have already been sidelined.
According to Tomlin, running back DeAngelo Williams (knee) was held out of Sunday’s game due to knee swelling that occurred after practicing last week. Tomlin believes he’ll be a full participant this week during practice and hopefully he’ll return to the field Christmas night against the Baltimore Ravens.
Maybe it was an accumulation of a week’s work, maybe it was a result of the plane flight, but it was my decision. I decided to exercise caution and not play him in the game,” Tomlin said of Williams being inactive Sunday against the Bengals. “He had fluid on his knee when we got to the stadium. I also took into consideration the surface that we were playing on and decided to go with the guys with the clean bill of health. I thought that put us in the very best chance to win. Fully expect him to be a complete participant this week and participate for us in the [Ravens] game.”
Wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey (foot) and safety Shamarko Thomas (concussion/knee?) both could return Sunday as well, according to Tomlin, as both are making strides with their injuries.
Excited about Heyward-Bey taking another step in participation this week and seeing where that participation might lead us,” Tomlin said of the veteran wide receiver “He was running full-speed in a straight line last week. We’re going to do some unanticipated directional changes and so forth and check his football readiness. Hopefully we have him. Shamarko Thomas could be put in that category as well as he works back from his knee injury.”
As for defensive end Stephon Tuitt (knee), he suffered a sprained knee against the Bengals and Tomlin thinks he also has a chance of playing against the Ravens.
“Stephon Tuitt has a knee sprain that’s been evaluated,” Tomlin said. “He’s actually downstairs rehabilitating right now. He’ll have an opportunity this week. We’ll watch him participate over the course of the week and see where that participation looks like. Obviously the position that he plays gives him an opportunity. It would probably be less-likely-so if he was a wide receiver or corner, but such is life in football. We’ll give him an opportunity to show his overall readiness.”
Tight end Ladarius Green (concussion) remains in protocol according to Tomlin. The team will follow that process to the letter with him and see where things go from there.
“He’s in the concussion protocol,” Tomlin said of Green “He’s at Micky Collins’ place right now being evaluated so I dont have an update on him. We’ll follow the protocol to the letter as we always do and keep you guys informed of his status and as often times is the case, his participation, or level of participation, is an indication on where it’s going, or where it’s maybe not going.”
Defensive end Ricardo Mathews (ankle) and linebacker Anthony Chickillo (ankle) both could be limited in practice this week because of the injuries they sustained Sunday. With that said, Tomlin indicated that both were able to return on Sunday and both look like they might play against the Ravens.
