Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin gave a pretty thorough injury update today during his weekly Tuesday press conference and reading between the lines you can assume that linebacker James Harrison (eye), linebacker Jason Worilds (quad), guard Doug Legursky (toe) and nose tackle Chris Hoke (neck) will all likely be down again this week against the New England Patriots. Harrison and Legursky are pretty much locks and based on how Worilds continues to have setbacks, I suspect they will take it much slower with him this time around in an attempt to get him fully recovered. By the time he is 100%, Harrison will likely be back in the lineup as well.
Tomlin did not expand on those four players only to say they were status quo. Wednesday will mark 3 weeks since Harrison had his surgery to repair his fractured right orbital bone, so his return next week against the Ravens still just may be wishful thinking. With week 11 being the Steelers bye week, it makes sense that they could indeed hold him out until after that. The same may go for Legursky as well as Tomlin said last week he would be out an extended amount of time with his dislocated toe. Hoke is likely week-to-week with his neck stinger and with Casey Hampton (shoulder) reportedly getting the green light to practice on Wednesday, they do not need to rush Hoke along.
Hines Ward (ankle) is probably best deemed as questionable this week with his sprained ankle suffered against the Cardinals. He normally takes Wednesday off and Thursday and Friday are not key practices days for him as he could very well sit out all week and still suit up just the same. 50/50 call right now.
Curtis Brown (back) is expected to be down this week as well with back spasms. Tomlin is not shy about young players needing reps to play and any practice missed will hurt his chances even more. He will be missed on special teams however, but not irreplaceable.
