Steelers focus on being healthy following short turnaround
PITTSBURGH — Ben Roethlisberger gave his standard answer Tuesday when asked how his broken left index finger was feeling.
“Fine, thank you,” he said.
The Steelers will accept that answer from all of their players as they attempt to get their bodies right for tomorrow night’s game against the 6-2 Carolina Panthers.
They’ll tell you it’s about getting the mind right, even if the bodies aren’t.
“The toughest part is the physicality of the game before, playing Baltimore,” Roethlisberger said. “Who knows if that’s going to be one of the most physical games of the year, so (we) have a couple of days to get ready for another physical team.”
What’s the adjustment?
“Rest,” Roethlisberger said. “You try to do what you can do to get as healthy as you can.”
The advantage often goes to the visiting team on Thursday nights. The Steelers are 7-2 at home on Thursday nights, 2-7 on the road. When counting Thanksgiving Day games, the Steelers are 4-13 on the road on Thursdays (still 7-2 at home).
Taking it a step further, under Mike Tomlin, and off a Sunday game, the Steelers are 4-1 at home on Thursdays. Only one of those five games followed a divisional game, and they won that game in 2011.
So, the Steelers are in a better spot than the Carolina Panthers, who are 1-1 on the road on Thursday nights. Their loss occurred at Heinz Field in 2010, the year the Steelers went to the Super Bowl and the Panthers finished 2-14 and were able to draft QB Cam Newton and hire coach Ron Rivera the following spring.
Tomlin was asked whether three days are enough to prepare NFL bodies, but he wasn’t about to affect his team’s collective mindset.
“I have no opinion,” Tomlin said.
“You just accept the challenge that’s in front of you,” said Maurkice Pouncey. “Teams always have advantages and disadvantages no matter if you’re home or away, so it doesn’t matter.”
INJURY REPORT
Players missing Tuesday’s practice were Roethlisberger, RT Marcus Gilbert (knee) and reserve NT Daniel McCullers.
WRs Antonio Brown and Ryan Switzer were limited.
“(Roethlisberger)’s going to be a bit behind but he’ll get some work in (Wednesday),” said offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner. “On a normal Wednesday he wouldn’t be doing anything anyway. Ben played 80 plays the other day. That’s two days ago. It’s just an effort to protect him.”
Gilbert has missed the last two games and isn’t expected to play Thursday. He would again be replaced by Matt Feiler at right tackle opposite Julius Peppers. The Steelers are 3-0 when Feiler starts.
The Panthers were hoping to get WR Torrey Smith back this week after he missed the last two games with a knee injury. But Smith missed Tuesday’s practice and most likely won’t play. He’s been replaced in the lineup by Curtis Samuel, a second-round pick out of Ohio State in 2017.
Samuel is 5-11, 200 and ran a 4.31 40 at the NFL Combine. Last Sunday he ran for a 33-yard touchdown and caught a 19-yard touchdown pass. Tomlin compared him to Percy Harvin, the former Minnesota running back/wide receiver/return specialist.
Also missing practice for the Panthers was center Ryan Kalil (ankle). The Panthers have been playing all season without tackles Matt Kalil and Daryl Williams, who are on injured reserve.
BEN AND THE ROOKIE
While James Washington was making spectacular catches at training camp, Roethlisberger was trying to temper enthusiasm over the rookie, and half a season later the reason has become clear: Washington still has much to learn.
“I thought he played well last week — well enough,” Roethlisberger said.
Not on the first pass. Washington didn’t turn his head quickly enough and the ball hit his knee and fell incomplete. He did catch two passes for 17 yards to give Washington seven catches for 66 yards in eight games.
“It gets real,” Roethlisberger explained. “Like training camp, you aren’t really getting tackled — you are but you’re not. You’re going against different defenders now, and I think for him the toughest part is playing both sides. In college he played one side of the ball. If you watch college football, offenses are being simplified in a sense that they’re all looking to the sideline, running a ton of screens. They aren’t running the whole route tree; at least it doesn’t appear to be that way. I think the quarterbacks and receivers come in with a disadvantage in the NFL level, so it’s different. But I think he’s learning.”
Does Roethlisberger find himself being tougher on Washington than most rookies?
“Maybe, when you see the potential,” Roethlisberger said. “He’s a really good kid. He’s a guy that works hard. You don’t really have to get on him. I think he gets on himself enough. I think it would be one thing if he came in here with a different attitude, but that’s not who he is.”
TOBACCO ROAD
Switzer, Jaylen Samuels and R.J. Prince sit next to each other in the locker room and all three have North Carolina connections. But only one, Prince, was a Panthers fan growing up.
Switzer, from Charleston, West Virginia, has family in Charlotte, and matriculated to North Carolina, but he grew up a fan of hometown star Randy Moss.
Samuels grew up in Charlotte and went to school at North Carolina State, but he was a Dallas Cowboys fan.
Prince, from Albemarle, North Carolina, and UNC, became a Panthers fan, he said, when they drafted Peppers. Prince was six years old and Peppers is still with the Panthers.
“He’s the same as he was back in the day,” said Prince. “Being in the league 17 years, it’s crazy.”
Prince is a rookie offensive lineman on the Steelers’ practice squad who’s excited about his development.
“Learning technique still, getting coached up, understanding schemes and all that,” he said. “It’s going good.”
How does he like his coach, Mike Munchak?
“I love him. He’s just smart,” Prince said. “At meetings he’ll talk like two hours straight just on schemes, and you’re like ‘Wow. This man knows so much about the game of football.’ After meetings I can go over stuff with him. He just knows the game of football so well. It’s amazing.”