Jan 5, 2016 4 min read

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Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said today that running back DeAngelo Williams’ injury suffered in the second quarter of the team’s win last Sunday at Cleveland was more of a foot issue than an ankle.

That could be good news for the Steelers.

Remember, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger suffered a foot injury earlier this year late in a game against Oakland and barely practiced until Friday. By Sunday, he was well enough to serve as the team’s backup QB against the Browns and entered the game in the first quarter after Landry Jones was injured.

This could be a similar situation, though Friday will be a travel day for the Steelers since the game will be played on a Saturday.

But the fact that Williams came back out onto the field in uniform and tried to run a little before shutting things down against the Browns is a good sign. So, too, was the fact he was walking around pretty well following the game in a plastic boot.

Then there’s this, the Steelers aren’t going to bring in a running back as they did last season when Le’Veon Bell was injured in the weekend before their playoff game against Baltimore. Tomlin said they’ll make plans to go with Fitzgerald Toussaint and Jordan Todman with Williams more of a day-to-day thing.

The Steelers aren’t going to write off the veteran running back playing.

@ Cincinnati head coach Marvin Lewis, on the other hand, did write off the possibility of Andy Dalton being ready to start this week against the Steelers.

Lewis said in a conference call Tuesday that he’s preparing backup A.J. McCarron to start against the Steelers. Dalton had the cast cut off his right hand today, but with a broken thumb, it would be very difficult to get his grip right in time for a Saturday game.

That’s not necessarily a good thing.

McCarron hasn’t thrown an interception in the three games he has started since replacing Dalton and, unlike Dalton, he has some experience performing well in big games.

Remember, he started and won a couple of National Championship games. I don’t think the stage will be too big for McCarron as it might have been for Dalton coming off a month of inactivity.

@ Both Tomlin and Lewis said they didn’t expect any carryover from the previous game between these two teams, a game in which the NFL levied nearly $150,000 in fines.

In fact, Lewis wouldn’t even call it a rivalry game.

“Isn’t Baltimore their rival?” Lewis asked. “We’re nobody’s rival. We just go and play.”

@ Tomlin again remained coy when talking about his team’s cornerback rotation.

Last week, that meant William Gay played all 83 defensive snaps, Brandon Boykin, playing as the nickel corner, was on the field for 62 snaps and Antwon Blake rotated with Ross Cockrell, with Blake playing 47 snaps and Cockrell seeing the field for 36.

“We’ve been rotating those guys and we’re going to continue to do so,” Tomlin said. “Oftentimes, we don’t give you guys a great detail about the method to the rotation, but there is. But it’s also capable of changing week to week. That’s why we don’t detail it.”

This will be an interesting week.

With McCarron at quarterback, the Bengals have gone more run-heavy.

In the past three weeks with McCarron at QB, they have dropped back to pass 92 times and run the ball 96 times. And of the 92 pass attempts, 17 have been to the running backs.

That could lead to the Steelers playing a lot more of their base 3-4 defense in this one.

Pittsburgh has done a good job overall against the run this season, allowing a respectable 3.8 yards per carry. The pass defense, however, has been an obvious weakness.

Will the Bengals let McCarron attack that, or will they continue to play it safe with the young QB?

The Bengals scored 24, 17 and 24 points with McCarron playing it safe and scored 20 points – with a very late touchdown being the final tally – when he had to throw it all over against the Steelers because they were trailing. He threw two pretty bad interceptions in that game.

@ Tomlin on playoff experience and whether it’s important: “The more experience I get, the more I think it is. When I didn’t have experience, I wouldn’t acknowledge that.”

But does it matter for player?

“Probably the same thing for them. Ben probably feels comfortable with his experience, and I’m sure Ryan Shazier feels comfortable with his lack of experience.”