Mid-week notes for Steelers-Bengals
Ben Roethlisberger practiced fully Wednesday and Thursday though he cautioned prior to practice on Wednesday that he had some soreness and swelling last Thursday, something that forced him to shut things down on Friday.
It’s a strange flip-flop on the part of Roethlisberger and head coach Mike Tomlin.
Last week, it was Tomlin who kept tapping the brakes on the possibility of Roethlisberger playing at Kansas City. Roethlisberger openly spoke about the possibility of playing.
This week, it’s Tomlin who is full speed ahead, while Roethlisberger is taking a more cautious approach.
The bottom line is this. Roethlisberger is playing this week.
@ Terence Garvin (knee), William Gay (shoulder) and Stephon Tuitt (knee) were held out of practice today for the Steelers. I expect all but Garvin to be ready to go on Sunday against Cincinnati, but Tuitt’s injury is the next most serious.
Safety Will Allen (ankle) was limited.
@ Interesting note – at least to me. A couple of weeks ago, I was in the office on a Friday night. I took a call from Fort Cherry football, which had just gotten finished playing North Catholic.
The final TD of the game was scored by none other than Mike Tomlin, a freshman for North Catholic.
I mentioned it to Mike Tomlin Sr. today, he immediately cut me off, “Mop-up duty.”
I asked if he had said anything to Marvin Lewis, a Fort Cherry grad, about it yet. “No, but I forgot Marvin was a Fort Cherry guy.”
I did ask Lewis about it. He had already heard about it. I had told Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com about it the previous night when he was a guest on the Antonio Brown Show.
That makes the early score, Tomlin 1, Lewis 0. But Lewis will get a chance for the more meaningful win Sunday.
@ Le’Veon Bell said he had no problem with the hit that Cincinnati safety Reggie Nelson put on him in their second meeting last season, though he also said he hasn’t spoken to Nelson, who knocked him out of that game and the playoff game the following week.
“No,” said Bell. “It was just a football play. I had got him before that when he tried to tackle me high and I’m a bigger guy. I don’t think he meant to hurt me.”
@ Antonio Brown has three career punt returns for touchdowns. All three have come against the Bengals.