Johnson and Snell...

Both practiced in full on Wednesday and both should be good to go on Sunday in Cincinnati. That’s big seeing that the Steelers will now at least have two reliable receivers out there in both Johnson and Washington and some threat of a run game with Benny Snell. Having these two guys available for this offense is huge to winning this game on Sunday in Cincinnati. I expect Rudolph to play well on Sunday as well and bounce back in a big way from how he played in Cleveland.

 

Rudolph practiced all week before sitting out against the Chargers. Johnson may have practiced Wednesday, but he hasn't cleared the concussion protocol yet. They may just be waiting to see how he feels today after practicing Wednesday. If I remember correctly, part of the protocol is seeing how the player reacts to physical exertion. Then again, it is definitely possible that Johnson won't be ready to play Sunday.

I do keep hearing about how bad Johnson's injury looked because he was bleeding from the ear. That take comes from ignorance. The blood came from the helmet rubbing against the ear when it was pushed violently by the helmet-to-helmet hit. Remember, he was hit right in the earhole. It is not directly related to the concussion. Basically, the blood from the ear and the concussion were two separate injuries sustained on the same hit.

 

Bleeding from the ear can be caused by a concussion. That might not have been the case this time, but that take doesn't come from ignorance. (it's not necessarily my take, I haven't read anything to confirm or oppose it in this particular case)

 

I did do some reading about it after the injury. Bleeding from the ear can be a symptom of a worse issue, but most commonly with blows to the head of an athlete wearing a helmet, it is not related to the concussion. In other words, it looked worse than it really was.

What I meant by ignorance was the assumption that the bleeding from the ear must be a sign that the concussion was particularly severe. It is not. In fact, it is most likely not directly related to the concussion at all.

To go deeper into it, if there is no obvious cause for the bleeding, it can be a symptom of a concussion or a skull fracture. In this case, there was an obvious cause. He was hit right on the ear hole.

We ran into a similar issue with Rudolph's concussion. People assumed the fact that he was unconscious meant that it was a more severe concussion even though the research indicates that athletes tend to recover more quickly when they are knocked out than when they suffer a concussion, but never lose consciousness.

 

With JUJU being out we definitely need Johnson. A bengals loss is not only humiliating, but that will be the end of the season.

 

Mention was made during the game that the blood was most likely caused by the helmet. Some sort of abrasion or cut.

 

I didn't hear that during the game. It looked like the blood was coming from his ear area(lobe maybe), not out of his ear canal. My comment was in reference to personal experience, plus not reading any reports this week as to what caused the bleeding.

 

Well if a lousy fan like me is paying close attention I don’t know what that says about you...Maybe you need your fan card checked. Bad enough you’re rooting for us to lose, you’re not even focusing in on your wishes.
Edit: Is your ear still bleeding? That would explain a lot

 

You're right.
Maybe I don't have it anymore.

It wasn't my ear that was bleeding, it was a child.
Does that make you happy, DARKNESS???





(Child is fine, it's now many years later. He's on the High Honor Roll.)

 

Oooh! My bad. Glad everything worked out great and obviously didn’t take after you .

My son had a very scary incident as well a few years ago playing basketball. Went up to contest a layup and got knocked out of bounds hitting his head hard on a old wooden school gym wall. Just missed one of those protruding electrical boxes. I was literally 8’ away but it happened too fast to react. Everything checked out fine at the hospital. He has a hard head like me but mine is hard figuratively as well

 

No problem man. I know you were joking around, as was I.

Kind of a similar thing happened with my son when he was 8. He smashed the top of his head on a crossbar while jumping up on a jungle gym. His neck was hurt and his ears were bleeding from the concussion. He was in a neck brace for a couple weeks and had to go back for several check ups, but he was fine in the end.

 

Here’s to hard headed kids.....

 

Johnson has been practicing, but he hasn't cleared concussion protocol yet. Snell should play, hopefully we have a RB who can get a 3rd and 1 .