The Steelers Just Got MULTIPLE Pieces Of BAD NEWS That Impacts Their Week 9 Matchup vs. The Colts

The Steelers Just Got MULTIPLE Pieces Of BAD NEWS That Impacts Their Week 9 Matchup vs. The Colts

Welcome in to Steelers Talk. I’m your host, Jack Sperry. Thank you guys for joining me here on Friday evening to talk about the latest Steelers injury updates as this team prepares to take on the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday afternoon. Got some pretty significant injury news for the Pittsburgh Steelers today, as well as some uh injury updates on the Colts side of things. Going to be breaking down what those injury updates are and how they affect this weekend’s matchup for the black and girl gold. Before we get started, make sure you guys click that subscribe button. We will be going live on Sunday starting at 12:00 p.m. Eastern time. An hourong pregame show getting you guys ready uh for this week’s Steelers game. Then we’ll have a live playbyplay and live uh reaction and analysis to the game itself right after the pregame show. And then of course we’ll have our extensive postgame coverage after the game is over as well. 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Um and then Jabril Peppers dealing with a quad injury will be out. That one is pretty significant. Uh we’ll get to that here in just a second. Uh the guys that are questionable, Chuck Clark dealing with an illness right now. Not sure if he’s going to be able to play. Cole Hulkcom also dealing with an illness. There certainly seems to be a bug going around uh the Steelers locker room right now and hopefully it doesn’t catch anybody else here before Sunday’s game. Malik Harrison, who’s been on IR for quite a while. He’s had his u uh in his IR window, his practice window open for quite a while now. He’s questionable to go. Uh he practiced fully this week, though. And then you got Will Howard still trying to get off of that 21-day practice window uh coming back from his finger injury. So those are the questionables. But then the people that are in this week, Isaac Samalo, all right, last week had to had to like leave the game with that pec injury. Uh didn’t look great. Pec injuries can be really uh you know, you know, really difficult. Uh but he’s able to go this weekend. Then Pat Farmouth who dealt with a quad injury last week. He was able to continue playing the rest of that Packers game though. He will be playing this weekend. And Zack Frasier, who had who’s been dealing with a calf issue ever since the Bengals game, has been playing through it, all that stuff. This week he says he feels a lot better and he will be a full go for Sunday as well. Also, Kyle Duggar, the newly acquired safety from New England. He is um he is a full go as well. He does not have any sort of designation on him. So, his role is still yet to be determined. It’s going to depend how fast this coaching staff can get him fully ramped up. He’s only had two practices with the Steelers, so you know, how ready is he to play in an NFL game for a new defense? We’ll have to see. Um, but according to TJ Watt and some other people, the Steelers have been simplifying things this week defensively. So, maybe the defensive game plan is not too crazy for Kyle Duggar to understand uh heading into this week. Uh, and then Darius Slay, who’s who missed practice, I believe it was on Thursday, uh, with a personal issue, was a full participant today. he was back in Pittsburgh and uh he was doing he was doing full team activities today. So he will be a full go as well. Then on the Colts side of things, the people that will be out for the Colts, Samson Ebukam uh who’s been out the last couple weeks here with a knee injury will also be out this week. And then um depth wide receiver Anthony Gold will be out as well. Guys that they have questionable this week are Grover Stewart. That one’s a pretty significant one because he is really their runto stopping presence if he can’t go on Sunday. Um, I already think the Colts are at a little bit of a disadvantage because they like to base out of nickel and the Steelers love to play those heavy personnel packages, sometimes jumbo personnel packages. Um, and not having Stewart out there, I think would be uh tough for that Colts defense. And then Taquan Lewis and Jaylen Jones, a couple backups and rotational guys for them are questionable as well. Now, some takeaways for uh these injury updates for you guys today. Number one, starting with Isaac Seamalo, him being out there and him being good to go means that there’s not going to be any ambiguity about whether or not the Steelers are going to be able to play their jumbo personnel packages. Um, they certainly had some options if they wanted to play jumbo with Isaac Seamalo out and Spencer Anderson plugging in at his spot at the starting left guard uh position. You could put maybe Andrew Peton there. You could put Ryan McCullum out there as the sixth offensive lineman. Um, but it certainly seems like Sam say is going to be giving it a go on Sunday, which means Spencer Anderson can continue uh, you know, the excellent work that he has been putting in this year as that sixth offensive lineman. And then, uh, just a little note on the jumbo personnel packages, guys, you’re seeing, you know, when I’m watching film uh, across the league in the National Football League for my job here at Chat Sports, I’m starting to pick up on some other teams, you know, putting out a sixth offensive lineman. You know, Philly’s been using it and they’ve have they’re having a lot of success with it. I think people are starting to pick up that if you put that sixth offensive lineman out there, um you can really destroy nickel defenses. And I think that this is kind of the next evolution of uh of of offense in the National Football League. And I think Arthur Smith and uh frankly Mike Tomlin um you know, their combination and their vision for this offense has really led the way for this new wave uh that we’re seeing unfold here in the National Football League. So, a little bit of credit and a little bit of praise I wanted to heap on Arthur Smith and even a little bit to Mike Tomlin for, you know, seeing that vision, seeing how that could be something that could work against the nickel and dime heavy defensive structures that we see in the National Football League u nowadays. Um, but now shifting our focus to the defensive side of the ball. And I think the big uh, you know, injury news for the Steelers on that side is Jabril Peppers is going to be out this week. You know, a big part of the excitement this week was that you’re going to be able to combine Jabril Peppers and Kyle Duggar, who have played with each other uh in New England for multiple seasons, and you know, they have a very similar language. And, you know, Peppers’s, uh, you know, familiarity with what Duggar already knows, uh, in New England can be a great help to getting him ramped up here in Pittsburgh. But now, um, and then also in terms of matchups, okay, this week you’re going up against a dynamic tight end threat in Tyler Warren. And as we saw last week, Chuck Clark is just not going to be able to get it done versus a dynamic receiving threat like a Tucker Craft or like a Tyler Warren, you need somebody else in there that can man up tight ends. And I think out of the safeties that the Steelers have out of Duggar, out of Peppers, out of Thornhill and Clark, and then Derek Forest now added on this week, the guy that I would trust the most to guard uh Tyler Warren one-on-one out of that group would be Jabril Peppers. And now that he’s going to be out now, you have to consider some other options. And right now, you know, the only person, the only safeties that are not dealing with an injury designation on your team are Juan Thornnehill. And we know Juan Thornnehill hasn’t played particularly great this year. And then Kyle Duggar, but he’s brand new to the Steelers defense. So, you know, if that’s the starting safety duo, there’s going to be concern concerns on my end that they’re going to be able to do their jobs effectively. Now, what I would do personally is I would put Jaylen Ramsay at safety this week. Okay? Um, you know, let Kyle Duggar kind of, you know, digest the defense. You know, you know, give him a helmet, let him play the special teams, maybe in certain packages, maybe make him a like a dime linebacker and put him out in those kinds of situations. But Jaylen Ramsay’s size, his length, his physicality, and his coverage ability, I think makes him an ultimate tight end eraser type of weapon. Um, and I think that he would be a very valuable piece to this Steelers defense uh this week playing safety in particular because usually the Steelers ask their strong safety to man up uh this the starting tight end of the other team especially, you know, if it’s a dynamic receiving threat. Now, the other thing that they could do is they could uh use Peyton Wilson to man up Tyler War Tyler Warren because, you know, Peyton Wilson’s one of the premier, in my opinion, man-to-man cover linebackers in the league. He’s one of the best and most athletic uh linebackers in the league. Uh Daryl Austin and Mike Tomlin have said that they haven’t played as much dime packages on uh obvious passing situations this year because they trust Pton Wilson in coverage so much and his athleticism. It’s almost like he’s already kind of that dime kind of safety that they would have brought in in the past, someone like a Terrell Ed Terrell Edmonds or something like that. So, um, you know, if with with with Jabril Peppers out and with your options being Juan Thornhill, Kyle Duggar, and maybe Chuck Clark, maybe Derek Forest if they bring him up from the practice squad. I think, you know, if you’re not gonna put Jaylen Ramsay at safety, then I think the best option is to put Payton Wilson, a linebacker, on uh Tyler Warren. And then if you do want to send an extra defender uh to the quarterback with their, you know, fiveman blitzes, I would send the strong safety uh in this case, it’s most likely going to be Kyle Duggar on Sunday and just have him blitz because he’s pretty darn good at that. He’s a very aggressive player and if you tell him, hey, um, you know, this week we’re going to have you blitz a lot and kind of keep it simple for you, I think that that is a game plan that could potentially work uh for a new player uh being injected into this defense here in Kyle Duggar. So, just keep that in mind. It’s going to be very interesting to see how Mike Tomlin and Terrell Austin kind of deal with the personnel in the secondary. Um, I would seriously consider putting Jaylen Ramsey on Tyler Warren and making him a safety this week. Um, and then certainly I would be thinking about uh if you’re not going to do that, putting Payton Wilson on uh Tyler Warren because you know, you start and you finish your game plan u defending the passing game versus Indianapolis with that guy right there. Tyler Warren is a truly dynamic threat at the tight tight end position. He’s arguably their most dynamic threat um receiving option in the passing game. So, you have to have a good plan for how to stop him, or else he’s going to have a very similar impact on the football game as Tucker Craft had last week. Okay. Um, another thing that I’m going to be very interested to see, especially when it comes to the safety room, is do they bring up Derek Forest? Okay. Apparently, he’s been dealing with a little bit of the flu this week. Apparently, uh, he told reporters today that he was just full-blown sick during his workout earlier in the week with Pittsburgh. And apparently, he did good enough to get the practice squad contract. and he’s been practicing all throughout this week. So, especially if Chuck Clark can’t give it a go on Sunday. Um, look for Derek Forest potentially to get a helmet, even if it’s just in a special teams only type of role. Uh, Forest is a fast player, okay? He’s only 26 years old. Like, uh, there’s been a lot of complaining on Steelers Twitter about how this safety room doesn’t have enough speed, and that is certainly a fair criticism. Derrick Forest could be a legitimate, uh, could be a legitimate solution to that problem. He’s got 441 speed at 200 pounds. Like he is he’s he can legitimately run and he’s a playmaker, man. Like wa watching his tape back with his time with the Washington Commanders, he’s always around the football. He’s very aggressive. He’s a very hard hitter. He’s versatile. He can play free or strong safety. So, you know, I think especially if Chuck Clark is out of the lineup and he’s still sick on Sunday, I think you got to elevate Derek Forest and you got to find ways to get him on the field. uh because I think he can be a playmaker for this Steelers defense. Um who knows if he’s fully ramped up, but you know, if if you can get Kyle Duggar uh ramped up at the timeline that they had him getting ramped up, I mean, Forest has had an extra day of practice compared to Duggar. So, if Duggar is ready to go, Forest should be ready to go in some capacity as well. So, keep your eye on Derek Forest on Sunday. He’ll be wearing number 49 if he plays. Uh, so you know, he’s certainly somebody that I don’t think a lot of people know his name, but I think by the end of the season, he could be a contributor for this football team. And then the final thing I want to discuss, man, Cory Trice Jr., I mean, just what I just feel so bad for him, man, because you can tell how much he wants it. He talked with the media on Wednesday about how excited he was to get back to practice and how he feels like he’s ready to go now and all that stuff. And then the next day, Thursday, he injures his knee and it’s another knee injury for him. You know, of course, he had that torn ACL um his rookie season that took him out for his entire rookie campaign. Um now he’s dealt with some hamstring issues. It’s just he can’t stay on the field. And this has been a huge concern of Omar Khan. He laid it out during the combine of why they would didn’t feel comfortable going with Cory as a you as a long-term starting option heading into this year’s because they can’t trust him to stay healthy. And this is just another iteration of that. And if this is any sort of serious, uh this is going to put Cory Chr’s season really on the line because right now they just opened his 21-day practice window. So he’s got like 20 days to get healthy now. um or at least healthy enough to put on the active roster or they got to either put him on season ending IR or they got to cut him. And you know, if this is any sort of serious where it’s going to take more than a month or so to get healthy, it’s going to end his season, guys. And that’s just really unfortunate because especially with Darius Slay, you know, not playing well right now in this Steelers defense. You’re looking for answers for that number two outside cornerback position. Uh Cory T Jr. would have been a very interesting potential option for the Steelers to explore in the second half of the season. But it’s looking more and more like that that’s not going to happen. It’s looking more and more like um if Darius Slay is not going to be able to um you know play at a high level, then it’s going to come up to Brandon Eckles and it’s going to come down to uh James Pierre, one of those two to you know find a groove and you know make some plays for this Steelers defense moving forward here into the second half of the season. So, my heart just goes out to Cory Tric Jr. man. Uh, you know, by all accounts, he’s a great kid. He works hard. You know, he really wants it. Um, it’s just disappointing that it’s probably not going to work out for him, at least not this season. Um, and I would say his long-term prospects in the National Football League and any sort of capacity outside of a depth piece, um, is is probably seriously in question with all the injuries that he has had in the first three years of his young career. So, that’s unfortunate, but um you know, our thoughts and prayers go out to Corey. Hopefully, he’s going to be okay um moving forward and wishing him nothing but the best moving forward as well. So, uh that just wanted to give you guys a little bit of an update here today. I appreciate you guys uh stopping by, of course. Happy Halloween, all that stuff. Uh tomorrow we’ll have more Steelers content for you guys. We got our mailbag for this week coming out tomorrow. And then TJ Watt had some very interesting comments today about what the Steelers game plan on defense is going to entail this week. I’m going to be breaking that down in an at home style video just like today’s video tomorrow. So make sure you guys tune in for that. Click that subscribe button if you don’t want to miss any of our content here on Steelers Talk. And until next time, guys, here we go. Steelers.

Steelers Talk by Chat Sports on Friday, October 31st, dives in to the latest Steelers injury news as the final Steelers injury report of Week 9 before Pittsburgh takes on the Indianapolis Colts at home on Sunday afternoon hit the presses today. On tonight’s show, host Jack Sperry breaks down who is out, questionable, and in for both the Steelers and the Colts this weekend, and how this week’s injuries impact the dynamic of this week’s ballgame.

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