The Pittsburgh Steelers enter Week 13 with a few players dealing with minor injuries they suffered during the team’s Sunday road loss to the Denver Broncos and on Tuesday head coach Mike Tomlin updated the overall health of the roster during his Tuesday press conference.
“On the injury front, Vance McDonald has a hip that will limit him in the early portion of the week,” Tomlin said. “We’ll Let his participation be our guide. Xavier Grimble is in the concussion protocol. Bud Dupree has a pec injury that his participation will be our guide in terms of his availability.”
Tight end Vance McDonald injured his hip during Sunday’s loss to the Broncos but was able to return and finish the game after first going to the team’s locker room to get examined.
Tight end Xavier Grimble was not mentioned by Tomlin after Sunday’s game so he maybe reported concussion-like symptoms to the team on Monday. Him being in concussion protocol now is likely a result of the big hit he took at the goal-line in Sunday’s game that forced him to fumble the football through the end zone.
As for outside linebacker Bud Dupree, it will be interesting to see if he’s able to practice much of any this week. He missed time during Sundays game with his pectoral injury but was able to ultimately return to the contest and finish.
Tomlin did offer updates on defensive end Stephon Tuitt (elbow) and tackle Marcus Gilbert (knee) during his Tuesday press conference.
“Some other bumps and bruises, we anticipate a Stephon Tuitt working tomorrow at least in some capacity and letting that be our guide in terms of his march back and the same with [Marcus] Gilbert,” Tomlin said. “It’s good to kind of get some of those types of guys back.”
Gilbert has missed the Steelers last five games with his knee injury while Tuitt has missed the last two with his elbow injury. Tuitt, by the way, looked to be in fairly good shape earlier on Tuesday when he posted a video on Instagram of him celebrating his return to training with his teammates.
Tomlin did not mention outside linebacker T.J. Watt on Tuesday. Watt left the Sunday game with a wrist injury but was able to return and finish the contest.
The Steelers first official injury report of Week 13 for their Sunday night home game against the Los Angeles Chargers will be released Wednesday after practice has concluded.
