Steelers Injury Report: Haden, Pouncey miss practice; Watt, Smith-Schuster limited on Wednesday

When the Steelers take the field on Sunday in Pittsburgh against the Seatte Seahawks, The players available could be significantly different than in Week 1. In the first injury report of Week 2 courtesy of the Steelers PR department, 10 Steelers have made the list with Ben Roethlisberger being the only player to sit out as a coaches decision.

While Mike Tomlin mentioned players could miss time early in the week, it will likely be their participation by practice on Friday which should determine availability on Sunday. For players who participated in a limited fashion such as S Sean Davis, OLB T.J. Watt, S Terrell Edmunds, and WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, how they respond to their injuries tomorrow after today’s workout may be the most telling sign of their availability for Sunday.

An interesting note is the limited participation of OT Zach Banner and RB James Conner due to illness. Hopefully it is not a lingering issue which will affect their status for the game.

A new player to the injury report who had not been mentioned by Coach Tomlin was safety Terrell Edmunds who was limited in practice due to a glute injury. It is unclear if the injury is a lngering issue from Week 1 or something that occurred in practice Wednesday. Whether or not it is significant enough to affect us play will be determined more as the week progresses.

As expected, Roosevelt Nix did not participate in practice on Wednesday and is not expected to be available before Week 2 and possibly beyond with a knee injury. Maurkice Pouncey also did not practice due to an ankle, but in 2018 Wednesday was a common coaches decision DNP for him. Joe Haden is the last player who did not practice as he continues to recover from his shoulder injury.

While practice participation for the Steelers on Wednesday it’s not the end all be all when it comes to availability on Sunday, it does create a baseline to judge progress throughout the week. It’s true that practice time should lead to playing time, but with veteran players simply being available by the end of the week is the most desired result. Since their opponent plays in the Pacific Time Zone, the Steelers are not required to release their injury report until both teams are ready. For this reason, Steeler fans are left waiting late into the evening to see who was able to practice.

As for the Seahawks’ injury report, they seem to be in a similar position as the Steelers. On Wednesday, six players did not practice and six more were limited in practice according to Seahawks.com.

Seattle Seahawks

Did Not Participate

C Joey Hunt (Ankle)

DT Poona Ford (Calf)

FS Tedric Thompson (Hamstring)

CB Neiko Thorpe (Hamstring)

C Justin Britt (Knee)

WR Tyler Lockett (Back)

Limited Participation

G Mike Iupati (Foot)

WR David Moore (Shoulder)

DE L.J. Collier (Ankle)

DE Ziggy Ansah (Shoulder)

FS Ugo Amadi (Shoulder)

DE Jadeveon Clowney (NIR)

Full Participation

T Duane Brown (Knee)

T George Fant (Ankle)

TE Will Dissly (Knee)