The Pittsburgh Steelers have now released their first injury report of Week 17 ahead of their Sunday afternoon road game against the Baltimore Ravens and the Wednesday offering shows that quite a few players sat out the Christmas day practice.
Not practicing on Wednesday for the Steelers because of injuries were center Maurkice Pouncey (not injury related), cornerback Steven Nelson (groin) and running back James Conner (quad).
Pouncey, who suffered a left knee injury during the team’s week 16 road loss to the New York Jets, has already been ruled out for Sunday’s regular season finale against the Ravens by head coach Mike Tomlin. B.J. Finney will start at center in place of Pouncey against the Ravens.
As for Conner, Tomlin essentially said he started the week listed as questionable after suffering a quad injury in the second quarter of the team’s game against the Jets. Conner had an MRI on Monday it revealed that nothing was torn. He does have a lot of bruising, however.
Nelson showing up on the Wednesday injury report is a bit of a surprise due to Tomlin not mentioning him on Tuesday. Nelson played the entire game against the Jets.
Also sitting out on Wednesday were tight end Vance McDonald (not injury related), tackle Alejandro Villanueva (not injury related), inside linebacker Mark Barron (not injury related), guard David DeCastro (not injury related), outside linebacker T.J. Watt (not injury related) and defensive tackle Cameron Heyward (not injury related). All six of those players were apparently just given the day off to rest.
