The Steelers have gotten good news on the injury front in recent days.
It started with an optimistic report about running back Rashard Mendenhall’s chances of playing against the Eagles in Week Five and continued through Monday’s practice when linebacker James Harrison and safety Troy Polamalu were both able to get on the field. Coach Mike Tomlin met the media on Tuesday and kept it coming when he said that there’s a good chance of all three players getting back to work this weekend.
“All guys performed well, and we anticipate them being able to participate this weekend,” Tomlin said, via CBS Pittsburgh. “Based on how I looked at what we worked on yesterday, I think that’s a safe assessment.”
The Steelers could use Mendenhall to help jumpstart a rushing offense that’s averaging just 65 yards per game so far this season, 31st in the league, and they certainly hope that Harrison will help a pass rush that’s produced just five sacks through the team’s three games. And Polamalu thinks that getting everyone back in the lineup and comfortable with each other will only help the defense execute at a higher level.
“We just have to get ourselves on the winning side of things, because nobody cares about losing teams,” Polamalu said, via the Associated Press. “We just haven’t been executing that well, whatever the call is that coach (Dick) LeBeau has made, we just haven’t been executing it that well at all. It really has nothing to do with the scheme of things. It’s just that we’re not executing and not performing well.”
We’ll keep watching to see if there’s a change in the positive news coming out of Pittsburgh, but the bye week seems to have done the trick for the Steelers on the health front.