The Pittsburgh Steelers are now on a short week with their next game set to take place Thursday night on the road against the Cleveland Browns and that means the statuses of several players currently dealing with injuries will be hard to gauge between now and kickoff of that contest. That said, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin attempted to give an overall health update of his team when he held his Monday press conference.
Tomlin started by talking about the three players who sustained injuries during the team’s Sunday win against the Los Angles Rams, wide receiver Ryan Switzer (back), Olasunkanmi Adeniyi (hip) and outside linebacker Anthony Chickillo (rib).
“Ryan Switzer went down with a back, Ola with a hip, Chickillo with a rib, or rib-like cartilage,” Tomlin explained on Monday. “On a short week, I don’t know what it means for those guys. They’re yet to be evaluated this morning. So, you know, maybe we’ll have some more information for you, but there won’t be a lot of opportunities during the course of the week for those guys to work their way into the rotation, or show their availability just simply by the way that we have to practice, or the structure in which we work on a week like this.
“So, don’t have a lot of information about their statuses or availability. We’ll just simply play it by ear and do the best we can in terms of making judgments, not only in terms of their health and capabilities, but just the mix of people in regards to some of those things.
Tomlin then went on to talk about the several players who missed Sunday’s game with injuries, running back James Conner (shoulder), guard Ramon Foster (concussion), fullback Roosevelt Nix (knee) and running back Benny Snell Jr. (knee).
“If we were to work today, James Conner would have been a full participant,” Tomlin said on Monday. “But again, that’s a hypothetical workday and so there’s some angst there. We feel comfortable about his ability to be available to us as we do Ramon Foster’s, but we have to get through the week in that regard. Guys that we’re less optimistic about are Rosie Nix and Benny Snell. Those guys are working, but they’re not positioned in the ways that James Conner and Ramon Foster are maybe to participate this week.”
In summation, it sounds like there’s a very good chance that both Conner and Foster will ultimately be able to return to action Thursday night. As for Nix and Snell, it’s clear that both are starting this short week as very doubtful for Thursday night. As for Switzer, Adeniyi and Chickillo, we’ll just have to sit and wait and see what the rest of the short week holds for the three.
The Steelers Monday injury report that will be released later in the day will only be an estimated one so Tuesday’s report might shed some light on the injured ahead of the team’s Thursday night game.
