The Pittsburgh Steelers are preparing to play the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at Heinz Field following their bye in Week 4 and head coach Mike Tomin gave an overall health update of the team during the early portion of his Tuesday press conference.
“A couple of guys that are working their way back from injury and we’ll let your participation be our guide in terms of their availability; Derek Watt has been running some, we’ll see if he can do the unanticipated movement that encompasses football play,” Tomlin said. “And if he can, we’ll let that be our guide in terms of potentially including him.
“And Marcus Allen, same thing with his foot injury. He ran in the pool today. He’ll have an opportunity to run on land, I’m sure, in the upcoming days and we’ll see where that leads us. The rest are kind of bumps and bruises associated with play. Diontae Johnson is out of the protocol so he’ll be a full participant, not only in play, but throughout the week in preparation for play. So, we’re excited about having him back.”
That’s obviously great news on the injury front for the Steelers all the way around.
Wide receiver Dionate Johnson now being out of concussion protocol now is not surprising and especially with him being able to practice in some capacity last Friday. He worked again in some capacity during the team’s Monday practice as well. In short, Johnson, who left in the first half of the Steelers Week 3 game against the Houston Texans with a concussion, might not even be listed on the team’s first injury report of Week 5 when it is released following Wednesday’s practice.
As for Steelers fullback Derek Watt (hamstring) and linebacker/safety Marcus Allen (foot), we’ll have to wait and see if both players can practice fully at any point in the next several days. Both players were injured in the team’s game against the Texans and both likely would’ve missed the scheduled Week 4 Sunday road game against the Tennessee Titans had it not been postponed.
