The team announced the re-signing of Offensive Lineman Mike Farrell today. Cornerback Buddy Jackson was waived to make room for the signing. Purely speculation and wishful thinking here, but hopefully this move indicates one of the injured Corners will be making a return soon.
Reports are starting to surface, none confirmed yet, that Matt Spaeth may need Lisfranc surgery. If this is true, Spaeth will likely be out the majority, if not all of the season. The Lisfranc joint complex is a combination of bones and ligaments, which provide stability to the joint which lies in the middle of the foot. The severity of Lisfranc injuries varies greatly. Santonio Holmes for example suffered a Lisfranc injury last September and is still rehabilitating from it. His was the most severe kind.
The depth at the Tight End position is an area of concern on this team’s roster. If Spaeth does require surgery, this could be troubling news.
https://twitter.com/Dejan_Kovacevic/status/365925107962609665
The team issued a statement on Plaxico Burress, calling his shoulder injury ‘significant’. No specific details on the injury were available, but he is scheduled to have surgery on the injured shoulder on Monday.
https://twitter.com/steelers/status/365871142793252864
Though no official announcement has been made by the team, Adam Schefter reports that Plaxico Burress has a torn rotator cuff.
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/365677841507041281
Mike Garafalo also reported that a torn rotator cuff was what Plaxico suffered yesterday. http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/Plaxico-Burress-season-career-in-jeopardy-after-injury-080813
Garafalo says that sources told him surgery was likely in the Wide Receiver’s future. If these reports are true, this is not only the end of his chances of playing this season, but most likely the end of his career.
The injury happened yesterday while Burress was attempting to catch a pass that was being defended by Steed and Cromartie-Smith. He was said to have fallen on his right arm and needed to be carted from the practice field. Plaxico was no lock to make the roster, but he was showing signs of being the red zone threat many hoped he would be. This injury puts receivers like Justin Brown, David Gilreath, Kashif Moore, Derek Moye, and Reggie Dunn in greater contention for the last available Receiver spot.
It’s being reported that Plaxico Burress left practice early with an arm injury. According to Jim Wexell, he fell on his arm after jumping for a ball that was defended by Ryan Steed and Da’Mon Cromartie-Smith. Hopefully it’s not serious…I’ll update when more is know.
OT Guy Whimper was injured during practice today. The specifics and severity are not yet known, but one observer’s account indicated that he was carted off the field. We’ll wait and see if Coach Tomlin has any details when he addresses the press later this afternoon.
Matt Spaeth was carted off the practice field today, after reportedly getting stepped on or stepping wrong. The details are not yet known. Spaeth, who had his knee drained last Friday, is first on the Steelers depth chart ahead of David Paulson. Paulson is having a good camp and has seen game experience. That cannot be said for any other healthy Tight End on the roster. More details of Spaeth’s injury should be available soon and I will update accordingly.
The team got some players back today, the most notable being Alameda Ta’amu, who was activated from the PUP list. Also returning to full participation today were Matt Spaeth, Nick Williams, Larry Foote, and Le’Veon Bell.
The following players did not practice today: Troy Polamalu, Larod Stephens-Howling, Plaxico Burress, Ross Ventrone, Terry Hawthorne, Jarvis Jones, DeMarcus Van Dyke, Cortez Allen, Steve McLendon, and Lawrence Timmons.
There was one new injury today during practice. Curtis Brown suffered an “ankle injury of some description” according to Coach Tomlin. Reports from practice were that he hurt his ankle while breaking up a pass during a two-minute drill. He was carted off the field and later seen using crutches.
Today, the team practiced in shorts, and tomorrow is a day off. Mike Tomlin said that he expects the number of men returning to participate in practice will increase on Wednesday.
Kevin Colbert told members of media at Steelers training camp today that Alameda Ta’amu has been activated off the PUP list and is returning to practice. This is great news for Ta’amu, who has missed all of training camp activities up to this point due to a hamstring injury. Ta’amu’s return should add an interesting twist to the competition for the backup Nose Tackle position.
The Steelers wrapped up the tenth day of camp today with a few more guys on the sideline than yesterday. Steve McLendon, Jason Worilds, Jarvis Jones, and Le’Veon Bell were back today, but on a limited basis. Curtis Brown was added to the list of DB’s who were not participating, along with already sidelined Cortez Allen, Terry Hawthorne and DeMarcus VanDyke.
The rest of the list of non-participants:
Troy Polamalu, Ross Ventrone, Curtis McNeil, Adrian Robinson, Matt Spaeth, Nick Williams, Larod Stephens-Howling, Larry Foote, and Lawrence Timmons were out today, as well. Timmons was out due to a death in the family. Coach Tomlin only commented on Troy’s absence saying, “He’s got a contusion to the birth certificate. He’ll be OK”.
The team started with a ‘get right morning’ AKA- the morning off. During afternoon practice, the team worked on various one on one drills, followed by 11 on 11’s. Today featured another day of live tackling, of which both Ben Roethlisberger and Baron Batch expressed the same sentiments during different interviews- ‘it will make the guys better in the long run’.
There were no changes to the first team offensive lines today. Mike Adams was at LT and Marcus Gilbert at RT for the third consecutive day. 2nd team looked like- Whimper, Cheadle, Malecki, Batiste, Beachum.
Ryan Clark had a scare today when he got his fingers caught in David Gilreath’s facemask. Fortunately, they were able to untangle before any significant harm was done.
While some people have raised alarms about Big Ben showing signs of a limp and getting it wrapped, he was said to be moving nimbly and scrambling about just fine during drills today.
The team reconvenes again tomorrow before having Tuesday off.