Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Without T.J. Watt, the rest of the Steelers team has to step up.
On Thursday, the Pittsburgh Steelers officially announced they had placed outside linebacker on IR. He is designated to return and since it is only a partial pectoral tear, it’s fair to say in five or six weeks he should be back on the field. But what does this move mean for the rest of the team?
Cast your vote for whether or not Najee Harris plays on Sunday.
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The Pittsburgh Steelers already made it official that linebacker T.J. Watt won’t play Sunday against the New England Patriots. However, there has been no official work on running back Najee Harris. Harris is currently dealing with a foot injury he suffered in Sunday’s win over the Cincinnati Bengals and was limited in practice on Wednesday.
Harris says he’s fine and that he will play on Sunday but head coach Mike Tomlin isn’t ready to make that sort of declaration yet. So our question of the day is all about if the team will have its franchise running back on the field Sunday.
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If Harris cannot go or is limited, Pittsburgh will turn to undrafted rookie Jaylen Warren. Cast your vote and let us know if you think Harris will play this week.
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Najee Harris was limited in practice on Wednesday.
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On Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Steelers continued preparations for their home opener this weekend against the New England Patriots. The Steelers have several guys dealing with injuries and here is how the practice report went.
Linebacker T.J. Watt was an obvious DNP. He’s dealing with a torn pectoral and has already been declared out for this week. Several other players were limited including cornerabck Levi Wallace (ankle), center Mason Cole (ankle) and Najee Harris (foot). Linebacker Robert spillane was a full participant after injuring his eye in last week’s game.
The name to keep an eye on here is Harris, obviously. If he cannot go, look for rookie Jaylen Warren to get his first start of his NFL career against the Patriots.
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Najee Harris said this new injury is fine and not related to any previous injury.
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On Sunday, Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris suffered a foot/ankle injury late in regulation that forced him out of the game. The replay of the injury looked bad as he basically got folded up on by a Bengals tackler.
But according to Harris when he talked to the media on Wednesday, he’s good and plans to play on Sunday against the New England Patriots.
Harris did say the injury wasn’t related to the Lisfranc injury he suffered in training camp that forced him to miss most of the preseason. The Pittsburgh run game never got going last week with Harris only getting 23 yards on 10 carries. If the Steelers are going to keep their win streak going this week, the run game has to do a better job and that includes Harris.
Najee Harris said he’s ok and plans to play Sunday against the Patriots.
— Ray Fittipaldo (@rayfitt1) September 14, 2022
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Mitch Trubisky was glad to get the win but knows he needs to play better.
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It wasn’t the debut he had hoped for but new Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mitch Trubisky can say the team won his first start. Is going 21-for-38 for 194 passing yards in five quarters bad enough to say the team won in spite of his performance? Maybe not but even Trubisky was honest when talking about how he played.
“Execution, I think timing from my perspective can be better, either getting it there a little sooner or waiting for the plays to develop a little more,” Trubisky said. A lot of guys being at the right spot at the right time.”
Timing was definitely the biggest problem on Sunday. Trubisky missed windows and this forced some serious overthrows. Trubisky also cut off too much of the field on himself and by rushing the play missed excellent opportunities to open receivers.
This week the Steelers face a pass defense in the New England Patriots that got torched by the Miami Dolphins last week. This is a perfect opportunity at home to quiet the critics and make people forget about last week before all the fans start screaming for rookie Kenny Pickett.
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T.J. Watt is eyeing a return to football soon.
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There aren’t many guys in the NFL tougher than Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt. So when word started to come out that the team was encouraged by Watt’s torn pectoral injury not being the end of his season, no one was shocked. If any man could play under these circumstances, it’s going to be him.
Watt took to Twitter just after Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin addressed the media with a message for the rest of the NFL. Watt won’t play this week against the New England Patriots but he will be back.
Will he be back this season? That’s the big question and one we aren’t going to have the answer to in the next week. So when Watt says he will be back, all we can do is hope it is this year.
— TJ Watt (@_TJWatt) September 13, 2022
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Pittsburgh is looking to go to 2-0 on the season.
Week One of the NFL season was an exciting one, espcially for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh pulled off a huge overtime upset win over the Cincinnati Bengals and currently sit at 1-0. This week the team has its home opener against the hated New England Patriots. There’s a lot going on with this team already so let’s talk about some early causes for concern.
Mac Jones says his back is feeling much better after his back injury on Sunday.
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In the New England Patriots loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, New England quarterback suffered a back injury on a high/low hit. But according to NFL reporter Mike Giardi, Jones feels better and wants to be ready to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers this week.
Jones’ injury status will be something to keep an eye on, especially with the status of Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt up in the air. The Steelers defense hit Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow early and often last week so Jones with a bad back could be a problem for the Patriots.
The Steelers are looking to go 2-0 after their upset win over the Bengals.
Mac Jones said they did all the test and everything was fine, "Yeah, definitely feel better. Yeah, I want to be able to be ready to play against Pittsburgh and I feel good." Said the back injury happened on the roughing the passer call. "Been hit harder before…" #Patriots
— Mike Giardi (@MikeGiardi) September 12, 2022
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