Steelers Now
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers are dealing with a plethora of injuries at the early portion of the week heading into Sunday night’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Eight players did not practice on Wednesday — Scotty Miller (broken finger), cornerback Cory Trice (knee), strong safety Jabrill Peppers (quad), linebacker Cole Holcomb (illness), outside linebacker Alex Highsmith (ankle), left guard Isaac Seumalo (pec), tight end Darnell Washington (foot) and tight end Jonnu Smith (rest).
Washington and Highsmith are two new players that popped up on the injury report.
Quarterback Will Howard (broken pinky) and safety Chuck Clark (illness) were full participants.
Head coach Mike Tomlin said on Tuesday that Miller and Holcomb are still out at the beginning of the week. Seumalo and Peppers are working toward returning, while Clark is expected to play on Sunday night.
Tomlin clarified that Miller and Holcomb are only out to start the week, and could potentially work their way back.
Seumalo suffered the pec injury in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s win over the Indianapolis Colts and did not return.
Seumalo suffered a similar injury in the Steelers’ loss to the Green Bay Packers last week. Backup Spencer Anderson, a versatile blocker used mainly in jumbo packages, replaced the ailing veteran.
Miller has been out the last two games. The broken finger injury was suffered in practice before the Green Bay Packers game last week.
Holcomb missed two days of practice last week with the unspecified illness. He was originally listed as questionable on the team’s Friday injury report, but was downgraded to out after the team’s walkthrough on Saturday.
Peppers was a full participant in last Wednesday’s practice, but was limited on Thursday and did not practice on Friday before being ruled out.
Safety Kyle Dugger, who was traded for on Tuesday, had a standout performance in the Steelers’ win over the Colts on Sunday. The Steelers were short three safeties on Sunday with Elliott on injured reserve and Peppers and Clark out.
Duggar started at strong safety, while versatile defensive back Jalen Ramsey played the majority of his snaps at free safety.
Tomlin said Ramsey will continue to play exclusively at free safety again this week.
Trice was in his second day of practice while returning from a preseason hamstring injury when he suffered a knee injury at practice last Thursday.
That injury caused him to miss practice again on Friday. Trice was ruled out of the team’s Week 9 game against the Colts, and the injury has now put his entire season in jeopardy.
Alan Saunders provided reporting from Pittsburgh.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Dealing with Slew of Injuries to Start the Week
