The Pittsburgh Steelers have held their second practice heading into Week 15, and not much good news came of it, unfortunately.
Here’s a look at the full Steelers practice report for Thursday, December 12 and what the latest updates mean ahead of gameday.
Steelers injury report: Thursday, Week 15
DNP: WR George Pickens (hamstring), S DeShon Elliott (hamstring), DT Larry Ogunjobi (groin)
Limited: N/A
Full: DT Montravius Adams (knee)
Veteran rest day: LB Elandon Roberts, DT Cam Heyward, TE MyCole Pruitt, RB/KR Cordarrelle Patterson
There weren’t any changes in the Steelers’ Thursday practice report when compared to Wednesday, aside from which players took veteran rest days — and that’s not a good thing.
Unfortunately, three Steelers remained sidelined as of Thursday and did not participate in practice, which is not usually a positive sign when it comes to their availability in the week to come. Among the players yet to practice this week are safety DeShon Elliott, DT Larry Ogunjobi and WR George Pickens.
The status of Elliott is particularly concerning, as he’s played an integral role in run support, starting 12 of 13 games this year with 96 tackles (3 TFL), 2 QB hits and an interception.
Pickens’ DNP status for Thursday wasn’t entirely unexpected, as he was already projected as “doubtful” for the week in HC Mike Tomlin’s Tuesday presser. He’s dealing with a grade 2 hamstring strain — an injury with a wide range of outcomes but one that sidelined QB Justin Fields and LB Nick Herbig for multiple weeks earlier this year. It feels safe to assume he’s out this week, though it hasn’t been formally announced. Scotty Miller saw the biggest uptick in snaps in Pickens’ absence last week, surprisingly, but with a full week to install the game plan, it seems likely that Mike Williams will be a bigger feature this go-around.
Ogunjobi is dealing with a groin injury that forced him from Week 14’s win over the Cleveland Browns. He dealt with a groin injury earlier this season, having popped up on the Week 5 injury report with it, but it’s unclear if it’s an aggregation of that injury or a new one entirely. Isaiahh Loudermilk saw an uptick in snaps in his absence in Week 14 with Dean Lowry inactive, though if Ogunjobi is out, Lowry should be in the mix for rotational snaps.
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