As expected, the Pittsburgh Steelers remain a fairly healthy team entering their Week 12 home game against the Green Bay Packers. With that, head coach Mike Tomlin recapped the overall health of his team during his Tuesday press conference.
Tomlin started by saying that cornerback Joe Haden (fibula) will once again be sidelined this week, as expected. Haden suffered a fractured fibula in the team’s week 10 game against the Indianapolis Colts and that injury is expected to sideline him at least four weeks. Tomlin said there is no timetable yet on the return of Haden.
As for other players who were dealing with injuries such as safety Mike Mitchell (ankle) and tight end Vance McDonald (ankle), Tomlin didn’t provide much of an update on either player outside of saying both will be watched during practice this week.Mitchell and McDonald both missed the Steelers Week 11 game against the Tennessee Titans with their injuries as did outside linebacker James Harrison (back).
“We’ll watch their participation and the quality of their participation,” Tomlin said Tuesday of McDonald and Mitchell. “Some of those guys didn’t participate in the last game.”
According to Tomlin, rookie wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (hamstring) is currently dealing with a small hamstring injury that might limit him in practice during the early stages of the week.
“We’ll be watchful and mindful of that,” Tomlin said of Smith-Schuster’s injury. “He’s a young guy, he needs physical reps in order to preform and perform at an acceptable level.”
The Steelers will host the Packers Sunday night at Heinz Field.
