The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Minnesota Vikings 26-9 Sunday at Heinz Field to move to 2-0 on the young 2017 season and after the game was over head coach Mike Tomlin recapped the team’s injury situation.
“T.J. Watt left the game with a groin and wasn’t able to return,” Tomlin started. “[Alejandro] Villanueva was in and out of the game. Dehydration, he was sick. So he was battling illness for the better part of not only today, but maybe a couple of days. So that became a factor for him. Some other bumps and bruises along the way, Jesse James with an ankle but he was able to go back in and return. I’ll give you a better assessment of some of those bumps and bruises on Tuesday.”
After Alejandro Villanueva left the game in the first half with heat-related issues, he was replaced by tackle Chris Hubbard. Hubbard, however, moved to right tackle later in the game when Marcus Gilbert left the contest with cramps. When that happened, Villanueva returned to left tackle.
Rookie outside linebacker T.J. Watt left in the first half and as Tomlin stated, never returned. After the game, Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported on Twitter that Watt was walking around locker room unencumbered and with no limp and he wasn’t wearing any sort of brace or wrap.
The Steelers had a few players that missed Sunday’s game due to injuries and they were defensive end Stephon Tuitt (biceps), safety J.J. Wilcox (concussion), tight end Vance McDonald (back) and tackle Jerald Hawkins (knee).
The Steelers next game will be against the Chicago Bears on the road next Sunday.
