The Pittsburgh Steelers are now preparing to play the Cincinnati Bengals Monday night on the road. The team, however, incurred a few more injuries in their Week 14 road loss to the Buffalo Bills and on Tuesday head coach Mike Tomlin recapped those as part of him updating the overall heath of the team.
“As you guys know, Matt Feiler is on IR with a pec injury, Tomlin said. “Some other guys who got injured in-game and whose availability, at the least, could be compromised at the early portions of this week – we do have an extra day of prep – so we were excited about that: [Kevin] Dotson has a shoulder in the offensive line. [Chukwuma] Okorafor has an ankle in the offensive line. [James] Connor has a quad at running back. Terrell Edmunds has a shoulder. We’re excited about potentially getting Joe Haden back, who’s been in the concussion protocol and is looking to get out of that. But, again, we’ll assess who’s available to us.”
Guard Matt Feiler was placed on the team’s Reserve/Injured list on Monday and the early reports state that he might be back in time for the playoffs. Rookie guard Kevin Dotson, who was also injured on Sunday against the Bills and unable to finish that contest, will likely start in place of Feiler against the Bengals if heathy enough to do so. Tomlin talked more about that potentially happening later during his press conference.
“His availability could be compromised at the early portions of the week, Tomlin said of Dotson potentially being aided by the team playing on Monday night this week. “And that’s why I mentioned him along with the other ones: Okorafor, Edmunds, Connor. We’ll make all of their availability decisions based on the practice and the quality of it.”
The Steelers first injury report of Week 15 will not be released until after the team finishes practicing on Thursday so we have a few days to speculate about the statuses of players such as Dotson, Okorafor, Edmunds and Conner. It does, however, sound like the Steelers will get cornerback Joe Haden back Monday night barring him not having any concussion setbacks this coming week.
Tomlin was not asked Tuesday about the status of inside linebacker Vince Williams and if he’ll be coming off the COVID-19 list ahead the game against the Bengals.
