Steelers News: Darius Slay STARTING Over James Pierre? + Latest Aaron Rodgers Injury Update

Steelers News: Darius Slay STARTING Over James Pierre? + Latest Aaron Rodgers Injury Update

On today’s Tomlin Tuesday edition of Steelers News and Rumors right here on Steelers Talk, I’ve got the latest Steelers injury updates, including the latest update on quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Mike Tomlin also said today that Darius Slay is going to start this week over James Pierre. I’m going to tell you why I think that’s a terrible idea. And then we’ll go over Will Howard, who apparently is going to be sharing first team reps with Mason Rudolph while Aaron Rogers misses the early week practices. Welcome into the show, guys. I’m your host, Jack Spar. And if you guys want my instant reactions to Steelers news all throughout the football calendar, you guys can follow me, Jack Sperry onx. I put my film analysis on there because we can’t put it up here on YouTube. But I also give my instant reactions to everything Steelers news related. Whether it’s injury news that comes out or whether it’s trade rumors and buzz that happens during the off season. I put out all my stuff out there on my ex account. So if you have an ex account, you want to follow me, you can follow me, jack_pray. Greatly appreciate your guys’ support. So we got an update today on Aaron Rodgers’s injury uh to his broken left wrist. And uh this one came from Tom Pelisero earlier today saying Steelers quarterback Aaron Rogers underwent further tests Monday that confirmed he won’t need surgery on his fractured left wrist. Sources tell me and Ian Rapaort. Rogers is pushing to play Sunday at Chicago, but doctors must clear him and his status moving forward is TBD. Now, according to Mike Tomlin’s comments today uh in the south side of Pittsburgh for Tomlin, Tuesday, his weekly press conference, sounds like Friday is going to be the big day this week that determines whether or not Aaron Rogers is going to be able to play. Tomlin talked about how they have to find some sort of brace for Rogers to wear to to a stabilize it and b allow Rogers to do all of his normal functioning stuff as a starting quarterback in the National Football League. And if they can do all that by Friday, he will practice. and Tomlin made it seem like he has to practice uh if Rogers is going to play on Sunday. So, the clock is ticking for Rogers to find a way to be able to uh play on Sunday and he has to do that by Friday or else it sounds like Mason Rudolph will get the start for the Pittsburgh Steelers. But it also sounds like Mike Tomlin is very open to Rogers playing uh this weekend. This is what Tomlin had to say on Rogers’s status. Aaron Aaron is the type of guy uh uh and he has the type of profile that doesn’t require a lot of physical work and an effort to be ready to play. I know Aaron is working his tail off to be a component of this week. He and I talked yesterday. He expressed that directly. I’m of the mindset of supporting that. So, it certainly sounds like Mike Tomlin is supportive of the idea of Aaron Rogers playing on Sunday. That is if he can prove that he can still play at a high level by Friday. And my guess is Rogers will will do just that. Rogers is a maniacal worker. He is somebody uh that does not like to sit out ball games. Last year he played with a partially torn hamstring for much of the season. He played with through knee injuries last year in New York. Um and he’s been playing through a finger injury on his throwing hand ever since uh pregame warm-ups in week nine versus the Colts. So this is a tough guy that doesn’t like to miss time uh for obvious reasons. He doesn’t have a lot of time left in his career and he doesn’t want to miss any game that he doesn’t have to. So, my guess is Rogers will find a way to end up playing on Sunday and let’s just hope he doesn’t make it worse uh if he does in fact play. But my whole take on the situation, guys, is honestly I would almost lean more towards playing Rudolph because I want the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday to be able to do everything. Whether it’s take snaps under center, whether it’s uh you know, take snaps from shotgun, you know, be able to throw uh comfortably. And I just don’t know if Rogers is at a place right now where he’s dealing with an injury to a finger on his throwing hand and then he has a broken wrist uh on his non-throwing wrist where he’s going to have to be wearing a brace that he’s not used to. I just feel like that’s a lot to be dealing with uh as a quarterback where obviously your hands and your wrists are really important uh to being able to play at a high level. And frankly, you know, even without the wrist injury, we haven’t seen Rogers play at a very high level these last three games. And especially because he won’t have a lot of practice time. At most he’s going to have one day of practice. It just kind everything just kind of points to me to go with the competent backup here in Mason Rudolph. But if I know Aaron Rogers and if I know Mike Tomlin, if Aaron’s able to play, he will be the quarterback for this football team come Sunday afternoon. So let me know who should start down there in the comments section. Type AR for Aaron Rogers or type Mr for Mason Rudolph. This will be the pin comment on today’s show. In just a second here, I’m going to tell you about our sponsor today at Harry’s. season while I tell you about our sponsor today. Let me know which quarterback should start for the Pittsburgh Steelers here in week 12. With that, let’s have word from our sponsor today at Harry’s. And I don’t have to tell you guys that maneuvering the men’s razor space nowadays is kind of a nightmare. The quality products are always super expensive and refills are also really expensive. But then you try to save a little bit of money and you get stuck with dull razors that you can really only use once and sometimes cut and irritate your skin. That’s exactly why I switched to Harry’s Plus and I haven’t looked back since. Harry’s Plus has an advanced pivoting system to reach every corner of your face, refined blade tech for a closer, smoother shave, and a weighted metal handle, which is Harry’s heaviest handle ever for added control and comfort. But I think the best part about Harry’s Plus is how affordable it is. Harry’s owns their own worldclass blade factory in Germany, which means no outsourcing and no middlemen. And because they control the entire process from steel to shelf, uh Harry’s keeps cost low and passes the savings on to you, the customer. If you don’t love your shave, Harry’s will make it right. No questions asked. Their risk-free trial means there’s zero downside to giving them a shot. And I actually brought my uh Harry’s Plus razor into work today to show you guys that I actually use and love all of Harry’s products. I’ve been using them really since I’ve started the shave and really going back to college because, you know, obviously you want to use quality products, but being a college kid, you don’t have the funds to get these super expensive products and let alone their refills. Uh, but Harry’s allowed me to get a barberh shop quality shave at a fraction of the cost of some of the more uh higherend kind of uh companies there. And you know, now they have this weighted metal handle. It just gives that extra feel of premium quality. And I just love that their German engineered blades give me a barberhop quality shave without having to break the bank. So, for a limited time only, our listeners can get the Har’s Plus trial set for only $10 at harrys.com/hat. The set includes an allnew Harry’s plus razor, a one refrib blade cartridge, a 2oz foaming shave gel, and a travel cover to protect your blades on the go. Just head on over to harrys.com/hat to claim this offer. And after your purchase, they’ll ask you where he heard about them. Please support our show and tell them that we sent you. A big thank you to Harry’s for sponsoring today’s edition of Steelers Talk. Now, head coach Mike Tomlin did give us some other injury updates today. And a really good update is that Tomlin sounded very quote unquote optimistic that Jaylen Warren uh the number one running back here in Pittsburgh is going to be able to play versus the Bears this Sunday after suffering an ankle injury. According to Tomlin, he actually got cleared to return to the game against the Bengals uh but was held out by the Steelers uh training staff for the rest of the game because pretty much at that point the game was in hand and they didn’t want to take any risks. Then Alex Heismith sounds more truly questionable this week. He’s been dealing with a pec injury. he’s gonna be limited to start the week and he said that we’ll see on whether or not he can play. Honestly, if Alex can’t go this week, I think we all feel very comfortable with Nick Herbig uh starting on at the other edge spot opposite of TJ Watt. And then he said that Darius Slay, who’s been dealing with a concussion and has been in protocol and Cole Hulcom, who’s been dealing with an illness, should be back this week. Uh, and speaking of Darius Slay, Mike Tomlin in kind of the shocker of the press conference today said that he that he is planning on starting Darius Slay opposite of Joey Porter Jr. at the number two cornerback spot on the outside um, and playing him over James Pierre who has been playing incredible football ever since Slay got injured in the middle of that Chargers game just two weeks ago. He’s currently ranked actually as the number one cover corner according to PFF coverage grading. And this is what Tomlin had to say about the quarterback position. Quote, “Sle will step back in if healthy. James Pierre deserves time, but Slay will step back in when healthy.” Uh,” unquote. So, listen, man. I really, really, really disagree with this move from head coach Mike Tomlin. And, you know, I I I there’s been a very uh there’s been a a lot of outrage about this on Steelers Twitter, and frankly, for good reason. I mean, you take a look at uh at these stats here and you’ve got Darius Slay versus James Pierre and the numbers for James Pierre are just so much better uh this season, guys, plain and simply where you’ve got u and by the way, if you’re watching live right now, the numbers are actually flipped. F Ponzi in the chat, but Darius Slay is the one that’s giving up a 70% completion percentage and James Pierre’s allowing less than a quarter of the passes targeted his way to be completed. Uh Slay’s given up more touchdowns, way more yards per target. The passer rating is way higher on Darius Slay than it is for James Pierre. And then James Pierre’s PFF grade right now is in the 90s. That is an elite grade in Darius Slays is all the way down to 57.2. So listen, I mean, I thought Slay was playing better um you know, in the Colts game and then in the first portion of the Charger game, I thought he was playing better than he was before. But Pierre has gone in and it’s been completely different, man. and his 90.7 PFF coverage grade is the best in the National Football League. And we’re talking about benching this guy this week for Darius Slay, who has uh busted coverages very consistently in zone and then has lost man-to-man uh quite a bit when playing man coverage this year. It it just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me outside of the fact that Darius Slay is making a pretty hefty sum of money and James Pierre is making nothing. So, it just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. It doesn’t strike me as playing the best players on your team. It it strikes me as we’re paying Darius Slay a lot of money so we feel obligated to play him. And also the fact that they’re planning on starting Darius Slay begs the question, why did this team feel the need to sign Asante Samuel Jr.? Because it it feels and sounds like that they feel like Darius Slay is more than good enough as a number two outside corner. Um and James Pierre they obviously feel very good about as a depth piece on the outside. Brandon Eckles has been playing well in the slot. So why exactly did they bring in Asante Samuel Jr.? And why did ASJ sign with the Steelers if he wasn’t being guaranteed, you know, a starting job in this defense? I think that those are very uh interesting and very valid questions to ask here. And you know, it also worries me quite a bit. All right, because right now you can look at it as best case scenario, Asante Samuel Jr. is this team’s number four outside corner. And when you account for Jaylen Ramsay and when you account for Brandon Eckles who can also play on the outside theoretically, you can make an argument that Asante Samuel Jr. is as far down as like CB6. And like if that’s the case, why would Asante want to stick around here in Pittsburgh if he’s not going to eventually have a chance to play in this defense? And there’s a lot of teams out there that are very very uh uh desperate for starting quarterback help like his his dad’s former team, the Philadelphia Eagles. And you know, it makes you wonder, could he decide to go somewhere else if a team wants to poach him off of the Steelers practice squad? But if he’s looking at Darius Slay and he’s looking at James Pierre and he’s like if I’m going to be an outside cornerback here in Pittsburgh and I’m not going to have a chance to play and I could play for the Philadelphia Eagles who I I would think right now uh is is is has a greater chance to win a Super Bowl this year and he actually gets to play. I mean if I’m Asante there’s no real reason why I wouldn’t want to go play for Philly. So uh this definitely has me concerned because Asante Asante obviously can’t get poached by a team if he doesn’t agree to go to them. But if the Steelers really don’t have any plan to play him this season, why would he not want to go play for a team like the Eagles, for example, where his dad obviously played for them for quite a while. As Sante senior has has said publicly on Twitter that he would love for uh his son to play for that football team, and then they have cornerback needs right now. It just makes a lot of sense that uh you know, the Philadelphia Eagles would be interested in Asante. And if the Steelers don’t, you know, get Asante going and into the program here, wouldn’t surprise me at all if he ends up getting poached and we end up losing out on a 26-year-old very promising outside corner in order to play Darius Slay in the final year of his NFL journey. Um, so now shifting our focus back to the quarterback position because I’m done talking about corner. Man, that is just a stupid decision as far as I’m concerned from Mike Tomlin. Uh but speaking to Tomlin, he did hint today uh that Will Howard is going to get some first team reps with the Steelers offense in practice this week. Obviously, Will didn’t get any first team reps during training camp really because of his finger injury and then he’s been on IR and then he’s been doing um you know, scout team work ever since he’s gotten back from his injury. Uh suited up for the first time last week and now we are just one play away from Will Howard playing in an NFL game. This is what Mike Tomlin had to say about the quarterback situation in the early portion of the week. He said, “Certainly, this week will provide opportunities for Mason Rudolph and Will Howard to get quality work as we start the week.” Will has been with us uh the whole time, and he’s a super sharp guy. I like the general trajectory of his work. He’s certainly in a position uh that he’s in. Doesn’t get a lot of quote unquote Steelers reps, but the reps that he does get with the scout team, he is taking advantage of, and I’m sure there will be an uptick in those opportunities this week. week. So, it sounds like Will is going to get a real opportunity here to get some reps in practice with Aaron Rodgers on the mend. And, you know, right now, if Aaron Rogers does not play on Sunday, which is a possibility, that means, you know, we are just one play away from Will Howard being injected into his first ever NFL action. And, you know, I think that the practice reps this week uh that are going to be given to him is going to be pretty much in preparation for that instance because, I mean, we just saw it last week. Your quarterback can get injured at any point in time. And Will Howard in that instance is going to have to be ready uh to step in and hopefully uh lead this team to victory just like Mason Rudolph did for this team last week. So predict it for me down there in the comments section. Does Will Howard take any significant snaps for Pittsburgh this season? Give me a yes or a no down there in the comments section. For me, I don’t think so. I think Rogers and Rudy will probably take a line share of the significant snaps, but you never know. Let me know what you guys think down there in the comments section. uh to finish up today’s show. And that’ll be it for today’s program. Make sure you guys click that subscribe button if you haven’t already. We’re going to have more Steelers content coming your way tomorrow and all throughout week 12 in preparation for this week’s game against the Chicago Bears. So, make sure you click that subscribe button if you haven’t already. Until next time, guys. Here we go. Steelers.

Steelers news and rumors: The Pittsburgh Steelers got major news on Tomlin Tuesday including updates on QB Aaron Rodgers, CB Darius Slay and QB Will Howard. Jack Sperry breaks it all down on today’s Steelers Report by Chat Sports.

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Steelers’ injury updates from HC Mike Tomlin:
– Tomlin ‘optimistic’ that Jaylen Warren (RB, Ankle) will play vs. CHI
– Alex Highsmith (EDGE, Pec) will be limited to start the week
– Darius Slay (CB) & Cole Holcomb (LB) should be back this week

Will QB Aaron Rodgers play this week vs CHI? HC Mike Tomlin gave his thoughts today:
“(Aaron is) the type of guy and he has the type of profile that doesn’t require a lot of physical work in an effort to be ready to play…I know (Aaron is) working his tail off to be a component of this week. He and I talked yesterday, he expressed that directly. I’m of the mindset of supporting that.”

We’ve got more Pittsburgh Steelers content every day here at Steelers Talk. He’s some of our latest hits:
– Aaron Rodgers Has 2 BIG PROBLEMS That Are Holding The Steelers Back (And It’s Not What You Think)… – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaXl9gVvTbY
– Steelers News: NEW Aaron Rodgers Injury Update, Ja’Marr Chase Suspended + Film Takeaways vs. Bengals – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEcyx5S150Q
– START MASON RUDOLPH? – Pittsburgh Steelers OVERREACTION Monday Ft. James Pierre & Jonnu Smith – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyEzc397UVg

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Mike Tomlin (On The Backup QBs):
“Certainly (this week) will provide opportunities for Mason (Rudolph) and Will (Howard) to get quality work as we start the week…(Will has) been with us the whole time, and so he’s a sharp guy. I like the general trajectory of his work. He’s certainly in a position that he’s in, doesn’t get a lot of ‘Steelers reps’, but the reps he does get, he is taking advantage of, and I’m sure there will be an uptick in those opportunities this week.”

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– Who should start? Type ‘AR’ for Aaron Rodgers or ‘MR’ for Mason Rudolph
– Does Will Howard take any significant snaps for PIT this season? Yes or No?

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