The Steelers began preparation for Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, a huge AFC North matchup. The Steelers go into the game as the NFL’s only undefeated team at 6-0, while the Ravens have been rolling and are 5-1.
With a physical game expected, the Steelers are going to need as many healthy players as possible, and a few are definitely on their way back, while others are a question mark still for this week.
Defensive lineman Chris Wormley, who was acquired by the Steelers via a trade with the Ravens this offseason, suffered a knee injury against the Tennessee Titans last week. Wormley underwent an MRI this week and didn’t practice on Wednesday, and Coach Mike Tomlin did indicate during his weekly press conference that he doesn’t know what his availability will be for the game.
Another in-game injury that could have an impact is safety Jordan Dangerfield (quad), who also missed practice on Wednesday.
“Jordan Dangerfield has a quad injury that may limit him in the early portions of the week, and we’ll let his availability (for practice) and the quality of his work be our guide in terms of him being available for the game,” said Tomlin.
Mike Hilton (shoulder), who is scheduled to practice this week, did not practice on Wednesday, but Derek Watt (hamstring), was a full participant after both of them missed the Titans games.
“We have a couple of guys who have positioned themselves to work their way back into action,” said Tomlin. “They’re scheduled to practice, those guys being Mike Hilton and Derek Watt. We’ll assess their health and performance throughout the course of the week and make prudent decisions in that regard.
“The rest are bumps and bruises along the way. I’m sure those may limit a guy or two in the early portions of the week, but we don’t worry too much about that.”
The bumps and bruises are plentiful, though, and it’s not a surprise with the physical games the Steelers have been in. Also not practicing on Wednesday were JuJu Smith-Schuster (knee), Diontae Johnson (toe), Eric Ebron (elbow), Maurkice Pouncey (elbow) and Alejandro Villanueva (elbow). In addition, Ben Roethlisberger, David DeCastro and Stephon Tuitt didn’t practice, simply a veteran day off for the trio.
The full injury/practice report is below.
