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Sean Davis and Vince Williams added to the injury report as Steelers prepare to face Bengals

Mike Tomlin highlighted injuries to two defensive starters on Tuesday when talking to the media during his weekly press conference.

By Simon Chester
Pittsburgh Steelers v New Orleans Saints Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images

As the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare to face the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 17, there is a chance they could see two defensive starters limited in practice this week after Sean Davis and Vince Williams were highlighted as new injury concerns on Tuesday.

Just because it was Christmas Day, that did not mean it was a day off for Mike Tomlin and he held his weekly press conference as usual on Tuesday. While he had little to share about the extent of these new injuries, there was an air of optimism that some of these names would be available on Sunday.

“Sean Davis has a quad. He’s downstairs managing it right now. We’ll see where that leads us in terms of his participation throughout the week and ultimately play. Vince Williams went down in the game with a toe. That’s being evaluated. His availability is in question. Obviously we’ll watch him throughout the course of the week in terms of his practice participation. Same thing with James Conner. I thought his participation was on the upswing at the end of last week with his ankle. We’ll be watching him close and seeing if he’s able to be a positive contributor to our efforts this week and obviously his practice participation and effectiveness will be a major factor in that.”

Adding later in response to a question about expected participation against the Bengals.

“Right now we’re not ready to paint with a broad brush and exclude those guys. We’re going to leave the light on for them. I know that’s their mentality. It was just expressed to me by Davis downstairs, and you like that. The guys better have a lean-in mentality this time of year and those guys do.”

If Williams ultimately cannot play on Sunday, L.J. Fort would get an opportunity to start in his place. While Marcus Allen is technically the next man up at deep safety according to the depth chart, it would not be a surprise to see a name like Terrell Edmunds, Morgan Burnett or even Mike Hilton man that position instead should be Davis sidelined.

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