The 4-3 Pittsburgh Steelers are now getting ready to play the Chicago Bears at Heinz Field on Monday night, and on Tuesday, head coach Mike Tomlin updated the overall health of the team during his weekly press conference. Tomlin’s initial recap only included him talking about kicker Chris Boswell (concussion) and tight end Eric Ebron (hamstring)
“From an injury standpoint, Boswell is in the concussion protocol,” Tomlin said. “I’ll keep you abreast as he goes through that process, but there’s nothing that alarms us in terms of the process that he’s in. But it is a process and so we’ll let those guys do what it is they do and obviously if Boz is cleared and ready to go, he’ll be our kicker on Monday night. And Ebron is still working hard. I just finished meeting with him. He’s in the pool working to get his hamstring squared away as quickly as possible. Other than that, we’re largely healthy, which is an exciting thing.”
Boswell was knocked out the Steelers’ Sunday game late in the first half after getting hit in the head and neck area along the sideline following him attempting a pass as part of a fake field goal play the team attempted. He was immediately placed in concussion protocol and will likely remain there for at least the next few days. The Steelers signed kicker Josh Lambo to their practice squad on Tuesday just in case they need him Monday night against the Bears.
As for Ebron, he missed the Steelers’ Week 8 Sunday game with a hamstring injury. We’ll have to wait and see if he remains a Steeler past the Tuesday trade deadline, and if he does, if he’ll be able to practice fully by the end of the week. The extra day the Steelers have this week should help when it comes to players such as Boswell and Ebron.
Tomlin did not mention running back Kalen Ballage on Tuesday, and that probably can be viewed as a positive as Ballage suffered some sort of injury to his ribs this past Sunday.
The Steelers’ first official injury report of Week 9 will not be released until after the team’s Thursday practice due to them playing on Monday night.
