Steelers Injury Report: Two starters miss practice Wednesday with knee injuries

Missing a Wednesday practice on a game week isn't necessarily the end of the world, but it also isn't a good sign for the Pittsburgh Steelers who thought they were relatively healthy coming off their Week 1 loss to the New England Patriots. The Steelers had a pair of starters, and other players looking to contribute this week against the San Francisco 49ers, miss practice with an injury.

CAllen (knee), Shazier (knee) did not practice on Wed; Boykin (groin) was limited; WAllen, Landry, Mitchell, Spence all participated fully

— Bob Labriola (@BobLabriola) September 16, 2015

As reported by Bob Labriola of Steelers.com, Cortez Allen and Ryan Shazier both missed practice due to knee injuries, while Brandon Boykin was limited with a groin injury. The troubling aspect of Allen and Shazier's injuries is the fact both players saw an incredible amount of time on the team's injury report in 2014. The Steelers very well could be treating these "bumps and bruises", as Mike Tomlin called them during his weekly press conference, with caution to avoid them plaguing players the entire season.

Nonetheless, logic would state Allen missing practice would open the door for Boykin to see more reps in practice and increase his likelihood of playing this Sunday. However, with Boykin being limited in practice it was newcomer Ross Cockrell who was the team's 3rd cornerback at Wednesday's practice, behind William Gay and Antwon Blake, in preparation for the game Sunday.

The good news on the injury front was the full participation of Will Allen (possible concussion), Landry Jones (head injury), Mike Mitchell (ankle) and Sean Spence (hamstring). Outside of Jones, those players will be needed in a big way this Sunday as the Steelers host their first game at Heinz Field at 1:00 p.m. EST.