The Steelers are now back at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, facing down a long regular season that looks a lot more promising given how things have gone leading up to it. Finishing just above .500 last year, they anticipate being able to compete with any team in the league this season with second-year QB Kenny Pickett leading the way.
They’ve done a great deal to address what they identified as their shortcomings during the offseason, which included addressing the offensive and defensive lines as well as the secondary and the inside linebacker room, which is nearly entirely different from last year. The results have been positive so far.
Even well into the regular season and beyond, there are going to be plenty of questions that need answered. When will the core rookies get to play, or even start? Is the depth sufficient where they upgraded? Can they stand toe-to-toe with the Bengals and the other top teams in the league? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout the season, as we have for many years.
Question: Did WR Diontae Johnson have a setback in his return from a hamstring injury?
Practice reports are only of limited value. As often as not, they only tell you what happened, and not why it happened. A perfect example: WR Diontae Johnson did not practice on Thursday after practicing the day before, having played this past Sunday. He is listed as not practicing due to his hamstring, which is what he injured.
But why did he not practice due to his hamstring? Was it a scheduled maintenance day to ensure that he doesn’t overdo it? We don’t know how often he practiced last week as he came back because he was still on the Reserve/Injured List, so the Steelers were not required to report on his participation level.
So we don’t know why he didn’t practice. We don’t know if he had a setback in his injury. We know that TE Pat Freiermuth did have a setback in his injury as he tried to come back, and it landed him on the Reserve/Injured List before he could even get back into a game.
One thing worth noting is that, while head coach Mike Tomlin did not speak to the media yesterday, Johnson did. Ordinarily, you would not expect players to speak to the media on days that they don’t plan on practicing, or if they are otherwise dealing with a new or aggravated injury.
In his comments to the media, he did say that he was dealing with some soreness, but he also indicated that he was looking forward to playing in front of Steelers fans at home and showing them what they were missing while he was out. But the Steelers are also on a three-game homestand now.
It’s worth pointing out that the Steelers’ locker room was open both before and after practice, so we don’t know when Johnson’s comments came. Could he have expected to practice when speaking to reporters only to not do so?
