The Pittsburgh Steelers have now released their final injury report for Week 8 and it shows that three players have officially been ruled out for the team’s Sunday night road game against the Detroit Lions.
Ruled out for Sunday night after failing to practice again on Friday were tight end Vance McDonald (knee), defensive end Stephon Tuitt (back) and tackle Marcus Gilbert (hamstring).
Tuitt will now miss his fourth game of the season and his second in a row with a back injury that he reportedly suffered while lifting a week ago Monday. He’ll be replaced in the starting lineup Sunday night by fellow defensive end Tyson Alualu. Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler said Thursday that he hopes Tuitt will be ready to resume playing after the team’s bye week.
As for Gilbert, who will miss his fifth game of the season Sunday night because of a hamstring injury that he originally suffered in Week 2, he’ll once again be replaced in the starting lineup by Chris Hubbard.
McDonald will miss his second game of the season Sunday night thanks to a knee injury that he suffered during the Steelers Week 7 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Outside linebacker T.J. Watt (ankle) was added to the injury report on Friday as being limited during practice with an ankle injury. He wasn’t, however, given a game status designation so odds are good he will play Sunday night barring any kind of a setback.
Wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (concussion), practiced fully again on Friday and did not receive a game status designation on the team’s Friday injury report and thus appears ready to play Sunday night against the Lions. Smith-Schuster started the week off in concussion protocol but was able to practice fully all three days.
