By G.Stryker:
Stephon Tuitt is back, which is great news for the defense. In his absence, the Steelers have allowed over 300 yards on the ground the past 2 games. Tuitt did not receive a game designation as he practiced all week.
Bud Dupree missed practice on Wednesday and was limited on Thursday and Friday. His injury was reported as a torn pectoral muscle, and he’s listed as questionable this week. Ola Adeniyi was rostered yesterday. Matt Thomas, who was inactive last week, was cut to make room for Ola.
Cameron Sutton was a surprise non-participant on Friday. It appears that he missed practice due to personal reasons. Those reasons were serious enough to list him as questionable for the game. He will be the toughest active player to judge, since there is no news to what his absence was for.
Morgan Burnett (knee) and Marcus Gilbert (back) have been ruled doubtful and out respectively, and neither of them practiced this week.
Anthony Chickillo suffered an ankle injury on the last punt return of the game, but he practiced fully all week and will play.
Eli Rogers was added to the return exemption list and is roster exempt. The Steelers have until 12/18 to add Rogers to the roster, or else he will have to finish the season on injured reserve. Keep in mind, that when Rogers is called up, he still has to serve a 1 game suspension for a performance enhancing drug violation.
I track and try to predict timelines for Steeler players returning to the field. This is a link to our current spreadsheet. It will update on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday after the practice reports are issued, as well as Post-Game and Tuesday after Coach Tomlin's press conferences. Bookmark it to see how the health of the Steelers are shaping up each week.
I believe the inactive players will be:
- Mason Rudolph: Healthy Scratch/ 3rd QB
- Marcus Gilbert: Officially ruled out, so he will not play
- Morgan Burnett: Listed as doubtful, and did not practice all week.
- Zach Banner: Is the choice on offense line to sit.
- Bud Dupree: Is listed as questionable, and Ola was called up. The Steelers probably wouldn’t have rostered Ola, if they thought Bud would play.
- LT Walton: With Tuitt returning, it usually means LT will be inactive.
- James Washington: James had a terrible game, and has trouble gaining separation on out routes. Justin Hunter received first team reps in practice, so it looks like he will get the helmet today over James.
After getting 6/7 correct last game, my predictions are 69/77 on the year.
