Sep 27, 2016 4 min read

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There was some good and bad news on the injury front for the Steelers on Tuesday.

The good news was that iot appears inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons is OK and will play Sunday against Kansas City. Timmons was rushed to the hospital during last Sunday’s loss to Philadelphia after suffering a puncture wound on his shin that could not be closed on the sideline.

But head coach Mike Tomlin said that he doesn’t expect it to be an issue for Timmons moving forward.

It also appears safety Mike Mitchell, who hurt his knee late in the game, also is OK. Tomlin didn’t even mention him on the injury report and Mitchell told me after the game he’s fine.

The news was not as good on some other fronts.

Guard Ramon Foster (chest), receiver Eli Rogers (toe) and linebacker Ryan Shazier (knee) are, in Tomlin’s words, highly questionable for this game.

Rookie safety Sean Davis (back) and strong safety Robert Golden (hamstring) also are questionable.

That could have some major repercussions for the Steelers, especially on the back side of their defense.

If Davis doesn’t practice much or at all by Friday, he won’t play. Tomlin won’t play rookies who don’t get a lot of work in during the week.

And with Golden also questionable, that could mean the Steelers would be down to three healthy safeties, Mitchell, Shamarko Thomas and Jordan Dangerfield.

Davis’ injury also affects the nickel defense, since he plays in the slot in those situations. That could mean fellow rookie Artie Burns also plays more.

Tomlin said he has liked what he’s seen of corner Justin Gilbert, as well. But Gilbert has been here three weeks after coming over in a trade from Cleveland.

The Steelers have played a decent amount of their quarters (a dime) defense with six defensive backs, as well. In that, Golden slides up into the middle and Davis goes to the deep safety spot. Burns comes in on the outside and William Gay slides into the slot.

It will be interesting to see if the Steelers still feel they can utilize that defense with all of the injuries.

Cody Wallace could return this week after sitting out the first three games with a knee injury. He, B.J. Finney or Chris Hubbard could be the replacement for Foster against what is a good Kansas City front.

@ When asked about Le’Veon Bell’s return from suspension this week, Tomlin replied, “rest assured you’re going to see Le’Veon Bell, and probably a lot of him on Sunday.”

@ I saw Rogers at the facility today. He was in a walking boot. But it was on his left foot, not his right, which is semi-good news. Remember, Rogers had issues with his right foot in the past, including missing all of last season because of a broken bone.

@ Food for thought.

The Steelers allowed Carson Wentz to complete 23 passes last Sunday. Of those, 19 were within five yards of the line of scrimmage.

10 of those completions went for 23 yards in gains – though the Steelers were twice penalized 15 yards at the end of those. The other nine completions went for 132 yards because of missed tackles.

Those are things that can be cleaned up.

And that doesn’t even include the 73-yard catch-and-run on a broken play by Darren Sproles.

@ More food for thought.

The Steelers have one sack through the first three weeks of the season. They have done that just one other time since the sack became an official stat in 1982. That came in 1997, when they failed to record one while splitting games against Dallas (loss) and Washington (win).

The only difference was that in Week 3 that year, they had a bye.

Pittsburgh came out of the bye in Week 4 to record three sacks against Jacksonville, an opponent it with which it was more familiar.

Last year, in a 23-13 loss at Kansas City in a game started by Landry Jones, the Steelers had two sacks. So maybe better days are ahead for the pass rush.

That had better be the case.

@ Antonio Brown said Tuesday that the NFL told him if he didn’t change his blue shoes against the Eagles, he would have to leave the game.

Brown changed his shoes at halftime.