The Steelers got some of their injured players back today, as Steve McLendon, Jason Worilds, Jarvis Jones and Le'Veon Bell returned on a limited basis. They participated in position drills but not in the team portion of practice.
That left the team pretty thin at a number of positions, as several others joined the walking wounded today, including a new one at CB, Curtis Brown. That puts the Steelers down four corners with Cortez Allen, Terry Hawthorne and DeMarcus Van Dyke also out of action.
With all of those guys out, the top three corners were Ike Taylor, William Gay and Josh Victorian.
Victorian might make this team as the last man standing, which is a good thing for him since he apparently went out during the offseason and got a whole bunch of clothes that say "Victorian-35" on them.
Don't do you a lot of good if you're no longer on an NFL team.
Also sitting out were safeties Troy Polamalu and Ross Ventrone, running back Curtis "Moody" McNeil, linebacker Adrian Robinson, tight end Matt Spaeth and defensive end Nick Williams.
Polamalu was given the day off by Mike Tomlin due to a "contusion of the birth certificate."
Damon Cromartie-Smith got the call as Polamalu's replacement.
@ With Spaeth hurting, the Steelers are down to one tight end, David Paulson, with any kind of NFL experience. And Paulson has only played in 16 NFL games.
Practice squader Jamie McCoy was active last season in the finale against Cleveland, but only played on special teams.
Because of that, the Steelers might be forced to use fullback Will Johnson some at tight end.
There just aren't many good all-around tight ends in college football any longer.
@ For the third consecutive day, the Steelers had Mike Adams at LT and Marcus Gilbert at RT.
Something tells me that is going to stick.
@ A lot is being made of Ben Roethlisberger limping around a little on his knee when he's not practicing, mostly by guys who haven't been here a lot.
They show up one day, see Roethlisberger with his knee and arm wrapped and freak out.
That's pretty much the norm for a 31-year-old QB who has been through the wars. Ever see the pictures of Joe Namath after a game?
And Roethlisberger is certainly more agile than Namath was at the same point in their careers.
Roethlisberger looked plenty nimble moving around on the field today. The ice is more precautionary than anything.
Shoot I just bought a whole gross of Victorian 35 Jerseys. I hope he makes the team. Anyone wanna buy a jersey?
ReplyDeleteMrs. Isaac Redman
What's wrong with Curtis Brown? Any idea how serious?
ReplyDeleteWhat chance do you give Beachum to beat out Gilbert for RT? Who's the back up C if Beachum is the starting RT?
ReplyDeleteGilbert would probably really have to blow it in the games.
ReplyDeleteAs for Brown, nothing serious.