The Pittsburgh Steelers have a quick turnaround ahead of them following their Sunday home win against the Baltimore Ravens, as their next game is a road contest on Thursday night against the Minnesota Vikings. On Monday, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin held his weekly press conference, and during it, he provided a quick health update on the team coming out of Sunday.
“I don’t have a lot of clarity regarding some of the health issues,” Tomlin said on Tuesday. “B.J. Finney is getting his back evaluated as we speak. He’s at the doctor’s office. I just saw Joe Haden in the training room getting some treatment as we speak. And so, don’t have a lot of updates there.
“It’s always challenging on a short week to have an inclusive mentality about those who are less than ready. You don’t have practice or full practice participation to evaluate their physical readiness and so forth. And so that’s a component of it and then just the sheer time and the quickness in which the week moves is not a lot of opportunity for people to get on the moving train. That being said, we’ll focus on the healthy ones and get those guys ready to play. Work to formulate a plan that highlights their strengths individually and collectively and minimize their weaknesses individually and collectively in an effort to pursue victory.”
On the surface, it doesn’t sound like Tomlin is hopeful to have either guard B.J. Finney (back) or cornerback Joe Haden (foot) back for Thursday. Finney left the Sunday game early with his back injury while Haden missed that contest with his foot injury, which has now caused him to miss three consecutive contests.
If Finney and Haden both miss the Thursday night game, guard John Leglue and cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon might be the players asked to start in their respective places. Leglue took over for Finney on Sunday while Witherspoon started in place of the injured Haden.
Tomlin did not mention defensive tackle Isaiah Buggs on Monday. Buggs was ruled out for the Sunday game on the Friday injury report.
Tomlin was asked about defensive end Stephon Tuitt on Monday, but he said there was no new news to pass along. Tuitt has yet to resume practicing after being placed on the Reserve/Injured list back in Week 1.
The Steelers’ first official injury report of Week 13 will be released after Tuesday practice has been completed.
