During his weekly press conference, Mike Tomlin provided a Pittsburgh Steelers injury update ahead of their Week 11 game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Largely, Tomlin offered positive news ahead of the team’s next outing.
“Cole Holcomb is still working his way back to us,” Tomlin said Tuesday via the team’s YouTube channel. “He’ll be a limited participant to start the week. [Darius] Slay is in the concussion protocol. We’ll let the protocol determine his availability. [Jabrill] Peppers was running in a limited capacity the latter part of last week. I imagine that’ll make him a limited participant tomorrow. And we’ll kinda go from there.
“Isaac Seumalo is expected to participate in some capacity and then build and then go from there. But we’re optimistic about his return. Scotty Miller has been cleared to practice from his broken finger.”
Tomlin also noted the team will soon make decisions on QB Will Howard and CB Cory Trice Jr. Both have been designated for return but remain on IR. Howard has practiced fully while Trice suffered a knee injury on his second day back, shelving him since.
Pittsburgh suffered one injury in its Sunday loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. Veteran CB Darius Slay left midway through the game with a concussion after SS Kyle Dugger collided with him making a tackle. Slay was ruled out with Tomlin confirming post-game he was placed into concussion protocol. As Tomlin noted, Slay will need to go through the process to clear protocol and play against the Bengals. If he can’t, James Pierre could see additional playing time.
The Steelers had a pile of injuries heading into Week 10. Miller, Seumalo, Peppers, and Holcomb all failed to dress due to injury or illness. Miller suffered a finger injury in practice late last month and hasn’t worked since. Seumalo’s battled a pec strain since Week 8 and was unable to dress last week. Peppers has missed the last two games with a quad injury while Holcomb has battled a mysterious illness that’s caused him to miss the last two contests.
Based on Tomlin’s assessment, Seumalo and Miller seem likely to be available by week’s end. Getting Seumalo back will return Spencer Anderson to a full-time role as a tackle-eligible instead of the shuffling between himself and Andrus Peat last week (that also required Anderson each time to sit out one play after reporting eligible). Miller’s role will be small if he’s even active against the Bengals but will round out depth. Holcomb could have a situational role should he play while also helping out on special teams.
Pittsburgh will release its first injury report following Wednesday’s practice with the final edition coming out Friday afternoon.
The Steelers and Bengals kick off Sunday at 1 PM/EST.