Now, we know head coaches aren't always 100 % truthful when discussing injuries. We were told Troy Polamalu and Casey Hampton would play two weeks ago against Seattle. Neither dressed. I'm therefore a bit reluctant to get overly excited about the news coming from Steelers camp about the status of Troy, Hines, and Casey for this weekend.
On Hines Ward finally getting back into the lineup this Sunday night:
"He is going to be fine," said head coach Mike Tomlin. "He is going to practice (Wednesday). All tests to this point have been very positive. I know he is excited about being back in there as we are about having him back in there."
Also encouraging was Tomlin's upate on Polamalu and Santonio Holmes:
"They are going to be fine," said Tomlin. "They are not even listed as issues on the injury report. We expect those guys to go. I think they are going to be good."
And although the prognosis isn't quite as rosy, Casey Hampton will return to practice tomorrow and perhaps play Sunday:
"We are going to continue to monitor him and his hamstring throughout the early portion of this week," said Tomlin. "We are hopeful that by the end he will be ready to go."
Finally, Tomlin discussed the opportunity and challenge this Sunday presented after losing their previous road contest:
"We talked about having an opportunity to respond to our last road outing," said Tomlin. "That was the focus of our meeting. The last time we played on the road we didn't feel like we played up to our standards. I threw that challenge out to our football team that we are going into a hostile environment this weekend to say the least and we have to be prepared to be at our best."
There ya have it. Minus Bryant McFadeen, we appear to be heading to Denver armed with our full arsenal of offensive and defensive weapons, and a healthy dose of motivation from Coach Tomlin.