The Pittsburgh Steelers have now released their second injury report of Week 7 ahead of their Sunday road game against the Tennessee Titans and the Thursday offering show several players moving in the right direction in terms of practice participation levels. Two players, however, are still not practicing.
Sitting out Thursday practice for the Steelers were inside linebacker Devin Bush (knee), cornerback Mike Hilton (shoulder), and fullback Derek Watt (hamstring). Bush has already been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Titans with a torn ACL and he’ll soon be placed on the team’s Reserve/Injured list. As for watt and Hilton, it is looking more and more like both could very well miss the Sunday game against the Titans.
After not practicing on Wednesday, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (not injury related/personal) is listed on Thursday as limited participant. Steelers offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner said on Thursday that Roethlisberger will be good to go come Sunday.
“Oh yeah, he’s good,” Fichtner said. “Just part of our maintenance program that we do. We talk about certain things, and some of the things for the development of our young quarterbacks, and we’ve got to step back at times and make sure we’re doing that. He finished practice really well and did a nice job.”
Practicing filly for the Steelers on Thursday were center Maurkice Pouncey (foot), wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (knee), defensive end Stephon Tuitt (not injury related), guard David DeCastro (abdomen), and wide receiver Diontae Johnson (back).
Pouncey, Tuitt and Smith-Schuster had been listed on the team’s Wednesday injury report as not practicing. DeCastro, on the other hand, was listed as a limited participant on Wednesday. He is looking to return to action this Sunday after missing the team’s week 6 Sunday game with an abdomen injury.
Johnson practicing fully again on Thursday is a sign that he’ll be back this Sunday after mossing the team’s Week 6 game.