Wednesday injury reports in the NFL can be a tease. You often see big-name players listed for injuries which almost seem made up. There are those who get concerned and those who think some of these reports are describing nothing more than a glorified day off.
Then Thursday rolls around and it’s a more genuine indication of what the real injuries are. Take the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Thursday injury report for example. On Wednesday Maurkice Pouncey, Ramon Foster and Stephon Tuitt all missed practice. It was odd, but when the Thursday report was released, some concern remained.
The concern was with Stephon Tuitt’s back. Tuitt, who most thought would participate on Thursday, sat out of practice again—leaving his availability for Sunday’s tilt with the Bengals in serious doubt. If he doesn’t practice Friday, there’s little-to-no chance he plays against Cincinnati, and this would be a huge hit to the Steelers’ defense.
Other than Tuitt, Marcus Gilbert sat out again and so did Vince Williams with his hip injury. Gilbert is a long-shot to play on Sunday, but Williams finds himself in Tuitt’s shoes—practice on Friday or likely miss the game.
In the good news category, Ramon Foster was a full participant, as were Maurkice Pouncey and Tyler Matakevich. Great news for all three of these players to be on the field on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET.
Check out the full injury report for both the Steelers and Bengals below:
Injury Report
Pittsburgh
DID NOT PARTICIPATE
T Marcus Gilbert (Hamstring)
DE Stephon Tuitt (Back)
LB Vince Williams (Hip)
FULL PARTICIPATION
LB Tyler Matakevich
C Maurkice Pouncey (Chest)
G Ramon Foster (Back)
Cincinnati
DID NOT PARTICIPATE
G Clint Boling (Not Injury Related)
WR Tyler Boyd (Knee)
HB Ryan Hewitt (Knee)
CB Adam Jones (Back)
LIMITED PARTICIPATION
WR John Ross (Knee)
S Derron Smith (Ankle)
FULL PARTICIPATION
QB Andy Dalton (Ankle)
S Clayton Fejedelem (Hamstring)
CB Dre Kirkpatrick (Shoulder)