The Steelers travel to Gillette Stadium to face the Patriots on Sunday. Kickoff is at 4:25 Est., and the game will be televised on CBS. Phil Simms and Jim Nantz are the announcers, which is always a treat…if you’re a Patriots fan. The game will be televised in most areas of the country as you can see below.
Red: Steelers @ Patriots
Blue: Ravens @ Browns
To those of you living in the blue areas of VA an OH, you have my condolences.
Here is the practice participation report from the Steelers facility today.
Did Not Practice: Markus Wheaton (finger) and David DeCastro (ankle).
Limited: Ramon Foster (concussion), Ben Roethlisberger (non-injury), Heath Miller (non-injury).
Full: Guy Whimper (knee).
Sean Spence was also back to practice participating in drills. One reporter noted that David DeCastro was walking around the facility without a limp.
For the Patriots:
Limited:
WR Danny Amendola (groin), CB Kyle Arrington (groin), RB Brandon Bolden (knee), OL Marcus Cannon (shoulder), WR Julian Edelman (thigh), TE Rob Gronkowski (back, forearm, hamstring), TE Michael Hoomanawanui (knee), DT Tommy Kelly (knee), CB Aqib Talib (hip), RB Leon Washington (ankle), S Tavon Wilson (hamstring).
Full:
QB Tom Brady (right shoulder), WR Matthew Slater (wrist).
The Patriots have not officially disclosed Tom Brady’s hand injury according to ProFootballTalk, so we’ll have to wait and see if that is addressed as the week unfolds. Here is a highly circulated photo of him from the weekend with his fingers taped up with flesh colored tape.
The Patriots also placed starting Tackle Sebastian Vollmer on injured reserve today.
The team has announced that they have waived Zoltan Mesko. Former Cowboys punter Mat McBriar has been signed as his replacement. Zoltan Mesko has preformed relatively poorly and inconsistently this season, and ranks 31st in the NFL and dead last in PFF’s punting grades.
McBriar is an Australian born 10th year veteran who spent all of his active NFL seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, until joining with the Eagles in 2012. In 2012, McBriar averaged 37.1 Net Yards, and averaged 45.4 total, 38 net over his NFL career. He was a 2 time pro bowl selection.
About Mesko, earlier today Tomlin said, “He’s been inconsistent and that’s not good enough. He needs to perform better.”
Mesko, who is full of good humor, seemed to take the news well.
https://twitter.com/ZoltanMesko/status/395296108173221888
This week’s depth chart has been released, and Jason Worilds has been listed as the starting ROLB over Jarvis Jones this week. Jones didn’t start the game in Oakland, and was pulled out after struggling to contain the edge during the loss to the Raiders. He played for a total of only 11 defensive plays.
https://twitter.com/BobLabriola/status/395196607559266304
Here are the offensive and defensive play counts for the Steelers versus the Raiders. On offense, Foster (concussion), DeCastro (ankle), and Whimper (knee) all left the game early due to injuries. On defense, Jarvis Jones and Ziggy Hood saw very limited playing time, while Vince Williams saw more plays than he has yet this season.
Offensive Play Counts
[table id=27 /]
Defensive Play Counts
[table id=28 /]
The following players are inactive for the Steelers today:
QB Landry Jones, WR Markus Wheaton, CB Curtis Brown, TE Rich Gordon, LB Kion Wilson, LB Chris Carter, and NT Loni Fangupo.
For the Raiders:
SS Tyvon Branch, LB Martez Wilson, DE Ryan Robinson, C Andre Gurode, T Menelik Watson, T Tony Pashos, and WR Juron Criner.
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.
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!