The league handed down it’s weekly justice in the way of fines today, and Le’veon Bell was not a recipient. Stevenson Sylvester’s name was also not on that list. Bell was penalized for face masking Ravens corner back Corey Graham in the last couple minutes of the first half. Here’s a gif of that.~
Stevenson Sylvester was also not fined for his hit on Ravens kicker Justin Tucker during an onside kick in the fourth quarter. Here’s a gif of that hit.~
Like last Friday, TE Richard Gordon and WR Markus Wheaton have been ruled out for Sunday’s game. Coach Tomlin said on Tuesday that Wheaton would continue to be out, and he hasn’t practiced all week, so this isn’t a revelation by any means. Despite having participated fully on Thursday and Friday, Richard Gordon has been ruled out again this week. Gordon injured his great toe during his first practice with the team.
The only new addition to the injury report was Ramon Foster (thumb), though he participated fully. Aside from Foster- Beachum (ribs), Gilbert (quad), Keisel (ribs) and Miller (non-injury) all participated fully today.
The only player to miss practice was Markus Wheaton, who has already been ruled out due to his finger. Everyone who was limited yesterday participated fully. So…Beachum (ribs), Gilbert (quad), Gordon (toe), Keisel (ribs) and Miller (non-injury) all participated fully. Great news indeed.
Here’s a rundown of the Steelers practice participation today:
DNP: Markus Wheaton (finger)
Limited: Beachum (ribs), Gilbert (quad), Gordon (toe), Keisel (ribs) and Miller (not injury related).
Full: Jarvis Jones (concussion), Lawrence Timmons (hand), LaMarr Woodley (knee), Cameron Heyward (illness), and WR Jerricho Cotchery (abdomen).
For the Raiders:
Limited: CB Porter (shoulder) and C Wisniewski (knee).
DNP: SS Branch (ankle), and RT Pashos (hip).
The Steelers face the Oakland Raiders at O. co. Coliseum on Sunday. Kickoff is at 4:05 Est., and the game will be televised on CBS. Spero Dedes and Rich Gannon are the announcers. You can view the map below to see if your local CBS affiliate will be broadcasting the game.
H/T the506
Early Games:
Red- Dolphins @ Patriots
Green- Browns @ Chiefs
Blue- Bills @ Saints
Late Games:
Yellow – Steelers @ Raiders
Purple- Jets @ Bengals
Go Steelers!
The Steelers have restructured Ike Taylor’s contract to free up cap space. The team was getting dangerously low in terms of cap room, so a restructure was a necessary evil to free up funds for possible injury replacements. The move creates an additional $1,488,236 in cap space for 2013. According to Ian Whetstone, the Steelers dropped his base salary to the vet minimum, and rolled the rest (apx $2.976 Mil) into a signing bonus.
Before the restructure, the Steelers were only about $247,000 under the cap. Isaac Redman’s salary of $ 1.323 Mil was fully guaranteed, and signing Kion Wilson cost the team a little under $330,000. Now, the team has $1,735,390 in cap space to operate with for the remainder of the 2013 season.
Ike Taylor’s numbers for 2013 and 2014 now look like this:
Year Base Salary Bonus Cap Number Dead Money
2013 $940,000 $4,942,401 $7,965,930 $9,884,805
2014 $7,000,000 $4,942,404 $11,942,404 $4,942,404
Shaun Suisham has been named this week’s AFC Special Teams player of the week. Suisham was 4 for 4 on Sunday, connecting from 34, 28, 38 and 42 yards, including the game winning field goal. Suisham is 14 for 14 this season, and has made 46 of the last 47 attempts inside the 50. The guy who many once considered to be one of the bigger liabilities on the roster, has become one of the most clutch kickers in the league.
Mike Tomlin gave an injury update today during his weekly press conference. Tomlin said the injury list is typical of a week following a Ravens match up. ‘There’s a laundry list of injuries we’re dealing with that will effect how we work during portions of this week.’
Kelvin Beachum– Has a right rib injury that could limit him during the early portion of the week.
LaMarr Woodley– Has a right knee that could limit him.
Lawrence Timmons– Broke his left hand. Tomlin said, “It has been casted and he’s ready to go”. That happened late in the 3rd/early 4th quarter in the Ravens game, and he was able to finish. He has full mobility in all his fingers, and it as been secured with a cast.
Brett Keisel– Left rib injury that could limit him early in the week.
Richard Gordon– Great toe sprain that makes him questionable.
Marcus Gilbert– Right quad injury that didn’t allow him to finish the game. Still an issue.
Jerricho Cotchery– Abdominal strain that will limit him in the early portion of the week.
Cam Heyward– Had an illness and was sent home yesterday. Hopefully he’ll be getting well and will be back soon.
Markus Wheaton– He’s been out, and will continue to be out.
Maurkice Pouncey is in Birmingham getting a check up. Levi Brown is also there having an unspecified surgical procedure done.
The Steelers announced that they have signed former Cincinnati Bearcats running back George Winn to the practice squad. Winn was touted as having great vision and explosive up field cuts prior to the draft, and is someone who could fit well in a ZBS. Here’s one scout’s take on him: http://www.optimumscouting.com/draft/articles/looking-for-the-next-alfred-morris-here-s-the-top-zone-blocking-running-backs-to-be-picked-after-the-top-100.html
Winn was signed by the Texans as a UDFA this spring. After being cut by the Texans in May, the Patriots signed him in June and released him during their final roster cuts. He was signed to the Raiders practice squad a couple weeks ago, and released last week. He is 5’11” and 210 lbs.
Mike Prisuta reports this morning that Lawrence Timmons has a cast on his left hand.
https://twitter.com/DVEMike/status/392606125582843904
According to Prisuta, Timmons says he has a minor fracture, and it won’t prevent him from playing and doing what he wants to do. Hopefully, it’s as minor as Timmons suggests. We’ll hear more about it shortly when Coach Tomlin addresses the media for his weekly press conference.