Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin offered an injury update following the team’s Week 1 win over the Atlanta Falcons. Tomlin confirmed that P Cameron Johnston is out of the season after suffering a knee injury Sunday.
“Cam Johnston obviously has a major knee injury,” Tomlin told reporters Tuesday via the team’s YouTube channel. “I imagine he has a surgery scheduled here for the upcoming days. He’s lost for the year. I’m really disappointed for him.”
Most notably, he outlined QB Russell Wilson’s status heading into Week 2 against the Denver Broncos.
“I just visited with him,” Tomlin said. “He feels better today than he did over the weekend. What that means, I don’t know as we sit here today. I know we’re going to take the same approach we take with a lot of people in terms of injury. We’ll first start with his participation and level of participation over the course of the week we’ll be analyzing whether he’s capable of protecting himself. Whether he’s capable of being productive.”
Tomlin said if Wilson gets to those points, the team will “ponder” his inclusion in the lineup. Tomlin said the team is currently acting as if Justin Fields is the team’s starting quarterback. Tomlin added that Wilson isn’t scheduled to be a full participant in Wednesday’s practice.
Tomlin also confirmed that CB Darius Rush is in concussion protocol, though he said there’s a “level of anticipation” he’ll leave protocol in the coming days. LT Dan Moore Jr. is dealing with ankle swelling. Tomlin said it could limit Moore’s practice reps earlier in the week.
Tomlin said rookie WR Roman Wilson is progressing.
“Expect an uptick in the level of participation of guys like Roman Wilson who is working his way back to us as a partial participant at times. Excited about getting him in the fold and maybe taking a step,” Tomlin said.
OG Isaac Seumalo’s health (pec) will be monitored throughout the week, per Tomlin, who did not rule him out for the Broncos game.
Wilson missed the opener due to a calf injury. He initially suffered the injury before the first training camp practice and was held out of the first two weeks. Healthy, he returned in full shortly before the team left Latrobe and played in the Steelers’ second and third preseason games.
But he aggravated the injury on Thursday, 72 hours before Sunday’s kickoff, and was limited during Friday’s practice. Listed as questionable heading into the weekend, Wilson went through a brief pre-game warmup Sunday morning before being officially ruled inactive as the team’s emergency third quarterback.
Rush was placed into concussion protocol in the second half of the Falcons game. WR Scotty Miller replaced him as the team’s gunner, making a key tackle on Chris Boswell’s punt, the emergency punter after Cameron Johnston suffered a season-ending knee injury.
Seumalo suffered a pec injury prior Week 1 and was deemed “week-to-week” by Tomlin during last week’s press conference. If he can’t play against the Broncos, Spencer Anderson will again fill in at left guard.
