The Pittsburgh Steelers mini bye week is now coming to a close following the team’s 51-21 Thursday night win over the Carolina Panthers and as far as the overall health of the team goes, it looks good, according to updates provided by head coach Mike Tomlin during his Tuesday press conference.
“James Conner is still in the concussion protocol, not that that’s a negative,” Tomlin said on Tuesday. “Part of getting out of the protocol is physical labor. We haven’t worked. He’ll be given an opportunity to work tomorrow and I think will lay all of those discussions to bed. [Stephon] Tuitt has as an elbow that could limit him at the early portions of the week. And Marcus Gilbert is still working his way back from his knee injury and as always, participation will be our guide in terms of his availability or potential availability.”
Conner should be back practicing on Wednesday and as long as he doesn’t have ant setbacks, he should be ready to play Sunday on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars. As for defensive end Stephon Tuitt, the play that he suffered his elbow injury on Thursday night against the Carolina Panthers was easy to spot. He did play 44 of a possible 57 defensive snaps in that game.
When it comes to right tackle Marcus Gilbert, he’s missed the Steelers last three games with his knee injury so it will be interesting to see if he’s able to start practicing fully at any point this week.
