PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Missing last week with a hamstring injury, Steelers starting safety Minkah Fitzpatrick is a possibility for the Packers game on Sunday.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin did not rule Fitzpatrick out during his news conference on Tuesday. He said the All-Pro safety is improving. They will let the week play out and see if later in the week he’s showing enough to where he could return.
Defensive lineman Montravius Adams (ankle) is questionable as they will see how the week plays out for him. Tomlin said he didn’t want to play Cam Heyward as many snaps (41) against the Titans in his first game back from a groin injury, but is pleased he had a weekend off to rest and doesn’t believe the snap count is an issue going forward.
No other injuries mentioned other than the loss of Cole Holcomb (knee) for the season. Tomlin said Holcomb was playing really well saying they really had a luxury with three experienced middle linebackers between Holcomb, Kwon Alexander and Elandon Roberts.
“We were dividing the labor up among two positions among three capable guys,” Tomlin said. “That’s a really good thing when you have an opportunity to do that. You really can specialize and allow guys week in and week out to do things that they do best. They can remain fresher.”
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The Steelers now have two guys for two spots as Tomlin explained. It’s more of a traditional rotation. Tomlin said it could create more opportunity for second-year linebacker Mark Robinson, but he’s not going to get the type of involvement Holcomb had. If Fitzpatrick returns, it would also allow them to use safety Keanu Neal as almost a hybrid linebacker in passing situations.
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Run game improvement
Tomlin said the run game was a big reason why they won on Thursday against Tennessee. The team rushed for a season-high 166 yards. He mentioned some of the attention to George Pickens may have lightened up the box, allowing for more room to run, but it was more than that.
“Hopefully it’s just a product of routine work,” Tomlin said. “There is no secret formula. We’ve worked continually and we will continue. Hopefully that performance is just a snap shot of the progress made and we continue.”
Tomlin said they didn’t really change the reps between Najee Harris (16 carries, 69 yards) and Jaylen Warren, (11 carries, 88 yards) but said because they converted some third downs you were able to see it more on the field. They just had more plays because they were having success.